f A BOOK ON
VEGETABLE
DYES
BY
ETHEL M.MAIRET
A.D.
1916
PUBLISHED BY DOUGLAS PEPLER
AT THE HAMPSHIRE HOUSE
WORKSHOPS HAMMERSMITH W
Price 55,- hit.
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DITCH LING in the CO UNTT 0fS USSEX
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THS H4MPSHI<H§ HOUSS ITO<HKSHOTS
HAMMSRSMITH
O^J. JOHWJTHE BAPTISTS DAT
A.D. MDCCCCXVl
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PUBLISHERS NOTE
IN PRINCIPIO ERAT VERBUM
ET VERBUM ERAT APUD DEUM
ETDEUS ERAT VERBUM. &Joanneml.i.
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genesis.1.21.
s'-
M AN uses these good things, and when MAN
first discovers how to make anything, that thing
which he makes is good.
For example : this book is printed upon one of
the first iron presses to be made in this country.
The press is a good press ; it would be difficult to
make a press which would enable the printer to
print more clearly. The wooden pres's was a good
press & the printing from it has not been surpassed.
Further, this quality of goodness of a first disco-
very may persist for many years.
,'J«270i
»
But there is a tendency to avoid Quality Street.
We are choosing rather Quantity Street & the Bye
paths of Facility & Cleverness; we have become ac-
customed to the hum of the Time & Labour saving
machinery; and we are in danger of forgetting the
use of good things : indeed the tradition & practice
of goodness has been lost in a considerable number
of trades.
For instance : a carpenter has become so used to
buying his timber in planks from a yard that he has
nearly forgotten its relation to the tree. The man
who works to designs conceived by somebody else
with wood sawn by another man's machine must
be deprived of the natural strength of the tree.
And this is not an exception to, but an example
of, the way we are choosing to do things.
It is impossible to buy linen as good as that nor-
mally used by every tradesman in the XVIII cen-
tury. It is nearly impossible to get cloth, paper,
bread, beer, bacon and leather equal to that in com-
mon use 1 50 years ago.
IN VIEW OF THE BEGINNING it is des-
irable to record what still survives of the traditions
of making good things; and I shall endeavour to
publish the instructions & advice of men & women
who still follow these good traditions. • -><J -\««r: r{is
Douglas Pepler.
CONTENTS
PAGE
I. INTRODUCTION I
II. WOOL, SILK, COTTON AND LINEN 1 1
III. MORDANTS 24
IV. BRITISH DYE PLANTS 37
V. THE LICHEN DYES 45
VI. BLUE ' 63
VII. RED 87
VIII. YELLOW 107
IX. BROWN AND BLACK 122
X. GREEN 133
CHAPTER I.
DYEING has almost ceased to exist as a
traditional art. In this 2oth century the
importan ce of colour in our lives seems
to be realized less and less. It has been forgotten
that strong and beautiful colour, such as used to
abound in all every day things, is an essential to
the full joy of life. A sort of fear or nervousness
of bright colour is one of the features of our age, it
is especially evident in the things we wear.
There is unfortunately good reason for it. We
fear bright colour because our modern colours are
bad, and they are bad because the tradition of dye-
ing/has been broken. The chemist has invaded the
domain of the dyer, driven him out and taken over
his business, with the result that ugly colour has
become the rule for the first time in the history of
mankind. It is not that chemists never produce
beautiful colour. Dyeing as a chemical science has
not been studied for the last 50 years without pro-
ducing good results. But there is this great differ-
ence between the chemical commercial dyes and
the traditional dyes — that with the commercial
dyes it is very easy to produce ugly colours, the
beautiful colour is rare ; but with traditional dyes
it is difficult to make an ugly colour, and good
colour is the rule.
It was in 1856 that mauve was produced from
coal tar by an English chemist, and this began
a new era in dyeing. The discovery was devel-
oped in Germany, and the result was the creation
of a science of chemical colouring.
The advantages of the new colours were ease and
simplicity of use, general reliability with regard to
strength and composition, and certainty in repro-
ducing the same colour again without trouble.
With regard to fastness, to light and to washing
there is practically little difference between the
two. It is more the method by which they are
dyed and not the dye itself (although of course in
some cases this is not so) that determines their fast-
ness. The natural dyes are more trouble and take
longer time to prepare. Chemical colours can be
dyed now as fast as the natural colours, although at
first this could not be done. Some of the chemical
colours as well as the natural, are not fast to light and
washing, and ought never to be used ; but there are
natural colours, such as madder, some of the lichens,
catechu etc., which are as fast as any chemical dye, if
not more so. BUT there is this general difference
between the results of the two methods, - that when
a chemical colour fades it becomes a different colour
and generally a bad one : when a natural colour
fades, it becomes a lighter tone of the same colour.
Since the middle of the i gth century our colour
sense has been getting rude shocks. At first came,
the hideous aniline colours, crude and ugly, and
people said, " How wonderful, are they really made
out of coal ! " They were told to like them and they
did, and admired the chemists who made them.
Then came more discoveries, and colour began to
go to the opposite extreme, and the fashion was
muddy indeterminate colours — ' art ' colours as
they were called, just as remote from pure good
colouring in one direction as the early aniline
colours were in the other. We are now emerging
from the mud colours, as I would call them, to the
period of the brilliant colouring of the Futurist.
Here we have scientific colouring used with real
skill. The Futurist has perhaps indicated a
possible way in which chemical colours may be
used by the artist and is teaching people the value
of simple combinations of brilliant colour.
And yet do they satisfy the artist ? Are they
as beautiful as the colours in a Persian Khelim ?
Is there a blue in the world as fine as the blue in
a Bokhara rug, or a red to touch the red of a
Persian brocade or Indian silk ? — the new fresh
colours as they come out of the dyer's vat, not as
they are after years of wear and tear, though that
is beautiful enough. And yet they are not more
beautiful than the colours once made by dyers in
England. They are as brilliant as the chemical
colours, but they are not hard and unsympathetic
and correct. They are alive and varied, holding
the light as no chemical colour can hold it ; and
they are beautiful from their birth to their old age,
when they mellow , one with the other, into a blend
of richness that has never yet been got by the chemi
cal dyer and never will be.
Perhaps it is the scientific method that kills the
• imagination. Dealing with exactly kno wn quan-
tities, and striving for precise uniformity,the chem-
ist has no use for the accidents and irregularities
which the artist's imagination seizes and which the
tradition al worker well knew how to use.
William Morris says that " all degradation of art
veils itself in the semblance of an intellectual ad-
vance." and nothing is truer than this with regard
to the art of dyeing. As a tradition it is practically
dead in Britain, and is threatened with gradual ex-
tinction all over the world. It will not recover it-
self as an art till individual artists set themselves to
make beautiful colours again,and ignore the colour
made for them by commerce and the chemists.
Handicraft workers should make their own
colours. Leather workers should dye their own
leather, the embroiderers their own silks and wools,
the basket makers their own materials,the weavers
and spinners their own flax, cotton and wool ; and
until they do this the best work will not be done.
This is the necessity for the present. If any craft
worker wants sound colour he must make it for himself ^
he cannot get it done for him by artists. Th e hope for
the future is that dyeing may be reinstated as a craft,
co-operating with the other crafts and practiced by
craftsmen.
The way to beauty is not by the broad and easy
road ; it is along difficult and adventurous paths.
Every piece of craft work should be an adventure.
It cannot be an adventure if commerce steps in and
says " I will dye all your yarn for you ; you will al-
ways then be able to match your colour again ; there
need be no variation ; every skein shall be as all the
others ; you can order so many pounds of such a
number and you can get it by return of post ; and
you can have six or seven hundred shades to choose
from." It is all so easy, so temptingly easy, — but
how DULL ! the deadly yards of stuff all so even
and so exactly dyed ; so perfect that the commerce-
ridden person says, " this is almost as good as the
stuff you can buy in a shop, it is as perfect as machine
made stuff."
What would have been the use of all this to the
great colourists of the world, the ancient Egyptians,
the mediaeval Italians or the great Oriental dyers ?
They could not get six hundred shades to order ; six
was more like their range, they did not need more,
and in those they could not command precise uni-
formity. They knew that the slight variations
caused by natural human methods add to the beauty
and interest of a thing, and that a few good colours
are worth any number of indifferent ones.
It is quite certain that a great many of the handi-
crafts that have depended upon commercial dyes
would produce Infinitely better Work if they dyed their
raw material themselves.
It may be obj ected that life is not long enough ;
but the handicrafts are out to create more life, not
out to produce quantity nor to save time.
8
The aim of commerce is material gain ; the aim
of the crafts is to make life, and no trouble must be
spared to reach that end. It must always be before
the craft worker. Dyeing is an art ; the moment
science dominates it, it is an art no longer, and the
craftsman must go back to the time before science
touched it, and begin all over again.
The tradition is nearly lost in England.
It lingers in a few places in Scotland and Ireland.
In Norway, Russia, Central Asia, India and other
places where science has not entered too much into
the life of the people,it is still practiced. Is dyeing
as a tradition to be doomed , as traditonal weaving
was doomed? Yes, unless it be consciously studied
again and remade into an art.
This book is intended for the use of craftsmen
and others who are trying to dye their materials by
hand and on a small scale. Information and recipes,
useful to such workers, are to be found in books and
pamphlets dating onwards from the 1 7th century,
and in this book I have drawn largely upon these
sources of dyeing knowledge, as well as upon the
traditions still followed by present workers, and up-
on the experience of my own work.
All dyeing recipes, however, should guide rather
than rule the worker ; they are better applied with
imagination and experience than with the slavish-
ness of minute imitation. Every dyer should keep
a record of his experiments, for this will become in-
valuable as it grows, and as one thing is learnt from
another. The ideal way of working is not by a too
rigid accuracy nor by loose guess-work, but by the
way which practice has proved best : nevertheless,
some of the greatest dyers have done their work by
rule-of-thumb methods just as others have certainly
worked with systematic exactness.
The dyer, like any other artist, is free to find his
own methods, subject to the requirements of good
and permanent craftsmanship, provided that he
achieves the effects at which he aims. But it is
supremely important that he should aim at the right
effects ; or, rather, at the use of the right materials,
for if these are right the effects may safely be left to
10
take care of themselves. In order to develop the
taste and temperament of a good colourist, is is ne-
cessary to use good colour and to live with good col-
our. In this book I attempt to show where good
colour can be obtained. But one may begin to live
with good colour which has been found by others.
This part of the dyer's education is not prohibit-
ively costly, even in these days of inferior colour.
Indian and Persian embroideries are still to be ob-
tained, though care must be taken in their selection,
as most modern pieces are dyed with chemical dyes
and are very ugly. Persian Khelim rugs are cheap
and often of the most beautiful colours. Russian
embroideries and woven stuffs, both old and new,
are obtainable, and are good in colour, as are most of
the embroideries and weavings of Eastern Europe
and the East. What are popularly known as " coffee
towels" are often embroidered in the fmestcoloured
silks. Bokhara rugs and embroideries are still to be
purchased, and many of the weavings of the far East,
although, alas, very few of the modern ones are of
good colour. I would say to dyers, do not be satis-
1 1
fied with seeing beautiful coloured stuffs in muse-
ums. It is possible still to get them, and to live with
a piece of good colour is of much more use than oc-
casional hours spent in museums.
CHAPTER II.
WOOL SILK COTTON LINEN
Various kinds of wool. Wool from goats. Fleeces. Wool
dyeing. Scouring of wool. Silk, preparation for dyeing.
Cotton, cleansing and galling of. Indian methods of preparing
cotton and linen for dyeing. BANCROFT on the preparing of
cotton and linen for dyeing. Linen. On water for dye ing.
ON WOOL. — The quality of wool varies con-
siderably. British wools are of various kinds : —
Highland^ Welsh and Irish wools are from small
sheep, not far removed from the wild state, with ir-
regular short stapled fleeces.
12
Forest or Mountain sheep (Herdwick, Exmoor,
Blackfaced, Limestone, Cheviot) have better wool,
especially the Cheviot which is very thick & good
for milling.
Ancient Upland^ such as South Down, are smaller
sheep than the last named, but the wool is softer and
finer.
Long Woolled sheep, (Lincolns, Leicester) with
long staple wool (record length, 36in.) andthe
fleeces weighing up to 1 2 Ibs. The Leicester fleece
is softer, finer and better than the Lincoln .
To the end of the 1 8th century Spanish w^/was
the finest and best wool in the world. Spanish sheep
have since been introduced into various countries,
such as Saxony, Australia,Cape Colony, New Zea-
land, and some of the best wools now come from the
colonies.
Alpaca^ Vicuna and Llama wools are obtained
from different species of South American goats.
Mohair is obtained from the Angora goat of Asia
Minor.
Kashmir wool is got from the Thibetan goat.
Cameth&ir is the soft under wool of the camel,
which is shed annually. It is of a brown colour.
'3
The colour of wool varies from white to a very
dark brown black,with all shades of fawn, grey and
brown in between. Th e natural colours are not
absolutely fast to light but tend to bleach slightly
with the sun.
Fleeces are of various kinds, the principal being :
Lambs, 3 to 6 months growth, the finest, softest and
most elastic of wool. Hogs and Tegs : the first
shearing of sheep that have not been shorn as lambs.
Wethers : all clips succeeding the first shearing.
Wool comes into the market in the following
condition, i ) In the grease, not having been washed
and containing all impurities. 2) Washed, with
some of the grease removed and fairly clean. 3)
Scoured, thoroughly cleaned & all grease removed.
ON WOOL DYEING.— There are four prin-
cipal methods of dyeing wool.
i st. — The wool is boiled first with the mordant and
then in a fresh bath with the dye. This method of
dy eing is the most satisfactory and gives brighter
and faster colours than the other methods. It is
*not necessary to throw away the solution after the
mordanting has been done, but it can be replenished
14
for a fresh lot of wool ; a separate bath is used for
the dye.
and. — The wool is boiled first with the dye and,
when it has absorbed as much of the colour as possi-
ble, the mordant is added to the same bath, thus fix-
ing the colour. This is called the " stuffing " and
" saddening " method ; the " stuffing " being the
boiling of the wool with the dye stufFand the " sad-
dening " the fixing the colour by the mordant.
A separate bath can be used for each of these pro-
cesses, in which case each bath can be replenished
and used again for a fresh lot of wool.
3rd. — The wool is boiled with the mordant and dye
in the same bath together. The colour, as a rule,
is not so fast & good as with a separate bath, though
with some dyes a brighter colour is obtained.
4th. — The wool is mordanted, then dyed, then
mordanted again (saddened) . This method is ad-
opted to ensure an extremely fast colour. The mor-
dant in this case should be used rather sparingly.
Wool can be dyed either in the fleece, in the yarn
or in the woven cloth. Raw wool always contains a
certain amount of natural grease. This should not
be washed out until it is ready for dyeing, as the
IS
grease keeps the moth out to a considerable extent.
Hand spun wool is always spun in the oil to facilit-
ate spinning. All grease and oil must be scoured
out before dyeing is begun, and this must be done
very thoroughly or the wool will take the colour
unevenly.
The principal detergent known from earliest
times is stale urine. In the Highlands this is used in
the proportion of i part to 5 of water. It is the best
scouring agent and leaves the wool soft and elastic.
Carbonate of soda is also used. But a good pure
soap is the most convenient scouring agent. A
suds should be made with hot water, and the wool,
which has been soaked in warm water previously,
should be well squeezed and worked in the suds till
all the grease is removed. This should be done two
or three times if needed, and then the wool rinsed
out thoroughly in clean water. Soda is apt to make
the wool harsh and should be avoided . A little
Ammonia added to the washing water helps .
To prevent yarn felting when it is scoured, it
should be first steeped in hot water and left to cool.
Soft soap is best for long fine wool. Urine for short
wools ; or urine and soda ash.
i6
Another Way of cleansing wool. Make a hot bath of
4 parts water and i part urine, enter wool, teasing
it and opening it out to admit the full action of the
liquid. After 20 minutes immersion, remove and
allow to drain. Then rinse in clear running water
and allow to dry. Use no soap. The liquid can be
used again. The wool often loses one fifth of its
weight in the process ofwashing.
To soften yarn — In a gallon of hot water dissolve half
pound of common soda, then add half-pint of sweet
oil and stir well. A little of this added to the wash-
in g water, for some colours, will soften the yarn.
T^o bleach wool — The wool is suspended in a closed
room on hoops, and under the wool chafing dishes
are placed with lighted coals on which powdered
sulphur is cast. The room door is afterwards shut
so that the smoke may be the longer retained to act
on the wool, which is to remain until it is entirely
whitened.
ON SILK. — There are two kinds of silk, i) raw
silk (reeled silk, thrown silk, drawn silk), and 2)
waste silk^ or spun silk.
Raw silk is that directly taken from the cocoons.
Waste silk is the silk from cocoons that are darn-
17
aged in some way so that they cannot be reeled off
direct. They are therefore carded and spun, like
wool or cotton.
Silk in the raw state is covered with a silk gum
which must be boiled off before dyeing is begun.
It is tied up in canvas bags and boiled up in a strong
solution of soap for three or four hours until all the
gum is boiled off. If it is yellow gum, the silk is
wrought first in a solution of soft soap at a tempera-
ture just below boiling point for about an hour, thei
put into bags and boiled. After boiling, the soap is
well washed out.
Generally speaking,the affinity of silk for dyes is
similar but weaker in character to that of wool.
The general method for dyeing is the same as for
wool, except that in most cases lower temperatures
are used in the mordanting. In some cases, soaking
in a cold concentrated solution of the mordant is
sufficient. The dyeing of some colours is also at a
low temperature.
Of the preparation of raw silk. For every pound of
raw silk, take £ Ib. of soap ; first put the silk into a
bag, or so make it up that tangling may be preven-
ted,then let it boil together for 2 hours,after which
i8
it must be very well cleansed,and so it is ready to dye
all sorts of colours, being first allomed.*
HoVo the boiled silk must be allowed. In proportion
to every pound of silk, take £ Ib. of Allom,melt in a
little kettle or skillet, and when melted, throw it in
to a tub of water, into which put the silk to steep,
where let it lie a whole night. *
To soften silk after dyeing. Into a large vessel nearly
full of water,a solution of soap is poured,in the pro-
portion of from 4 to 5 Ibs. of soap for every 1 1 o Ibs.
of silk. The solution of soap is strained through a
cloth into the water and well mixed. The silk is
then introduced & left for about quarter of an hour
after which it is wrung out and dried.
ON COTTON. — Cotton is the down surround-
ing the seeds in pods of certain shrubs and trees
growing in tropical and semi-tropical countries.
It was first introduced into«Europe by the Saracens
and was manufactured into cloth in Spain in the
early 1 3th century. Cotton cloth was made in
England in the early iyth century. The colour
of cotton varies from deep yellow to white. The
*From a dye book of 1 70 5.
'9
fibre differs in length, the long stapled being the
most valued. Cotton is difficult to dye and requires
a special preparation. It is first boiled with water
till thoroughly softened and wetted. Then alumed
in the proportion of i of alum to 4 of the cotton (see
page 28) . It is then galled. The galling is done
with different proportions of gall-nuts and other as-
tringents (such as tannic acid,myrobalams, sumach,
catechu) according to the quality of the astringents
and the effect wished to be obtained. If gall-nuts
are used they are bruised, then boiled for about two
hours in a quantity of water. The bath is then al-
lowed to cool till the hand can bear it. The cotton
is worked well in this solution and then left for 24
hours. After which it is wrung out and dried.
Cotton is sometimes boiled in sour water in order
to cleanse it : sometimes an alkaline ley is used : the
cotton must be boiled in it for 2 hours, then wrung
out and rinsed in clean water and dried. Cotton
dyeing has been carried on for centuries in the Last.
In India " before a cloth is ready to be dyed with a
fast colour, it has generally to undergo a preliminary
process of preparation more or less elaborate, the
different stages of which may be recited as washing,
20
bleaching, dunging, galling, aluming, or mordant-
ing, and again washing." (A Monograph on dyes and
dyeing in the Bombay Presidency £y C.Cf.H.Fawcett,
1896.) It is washed first of all to remove all impuri-
ties, whether those naturally belonging to the fibre
or those purposely introduced during the processes
of spinning and weaving. The bleaching removes
grease, etc. This is done in India by the sun, air and
moisture. The dunging process consists of passing
the cotton through a hot solution of cow dung,
which renders the dye fast. This is sometimes re-
placed by substitutes, such as the phosphates of soda
and lime, silicates of soda, etc. The next operation
of galling isfcn important step in the Indian process
of dyeing. It is applied to cotton, linen and silk.
Vegetable infusions containing tannin are applied
to the cloth. Those mostly used are myrobalams,
pomegranate rind, tamarisk galls, and pistachio
galls. The cloth is then alumed, washed, and is then
ready to be dyed.
Bancroft 'says : — "The fibres of linen or cotton
when spun or woven are prepared for the dyer by
being first boiled in water with a suitable proportion
of potash (which for linen should be made caustic,
in order that it may act more strongly upon the oily
21
and resinous matters abounding in flax) and after-
wards bleached by exposure upon the grass to sun
and air. But as this operation commonly leaves a
portion of earthy matter in the linen or cotton, it
ought to be soaked or steeped in water soured by sul-
phuric acid, to dissolve and remove this earthy mat-
ter, taking care afterwards to wash or rinse off the
acid."
A few of the natural dye stuffs are capable of dye-
ing cotton direct, without a mordant, such as Tur-
meric, Barberry bark, safflower, annatto. For other
dyes cotton has a special attraction, such as catechu,
fustic, logwood. ji
ON LINEN. — Linen is flax, derive^ from the
decomposed stalks of a plant of the genus of Linum.
It grows chiefly in Russia, Belgium, France, lipl-
land, and Ireland. The plants after being gathered
are subjected to a process called " retting", which
separates the fibre from the decaying part of the
plant. In Ireland and Russia this is usually done in
stagnant water, producing a dark coloured flax. In
Belgium, Holland and France, retting is carried out
in running water, and the resulting flax is a lighter
colour. Linen is more difficult to dye than cotton,
probably on account of the hard nature of the fibre.
\,
22
The same processes are used for dyeing linen as for
cotton.
" Linen thread is dyed in the same manner as cot-
ton, only, that previous to its being purged like cot-
ton thread, it is usual to boil it in water, adding for
every pound of thread a quarter pound of chopped
sorrel. Oil of vitriol is, however, more convenient
and better than sorrel/' — *D ' Aptigny
To Bleach Linen. — (For 1 3 to 1 5 yards linen) Boil
I Ib. soap and | Ib. soda in a gallon of water. Put it
in a copper and fill up with water, leaving room for
the linen to be put in. Put in the linen and bring to
the boil. Boil for 2 hours, keeping it under the
water and covered. Stir occasionally. Then
spread out on the grass for 3 days, watering it when
it gets dry. Repeat this boiling and grassing for 3
weeks. Your linen is then pure white.
. T0 bleach linen a cream colour. — Boil |lb. soap and
I Ib. soda in a gallon of water. Fill copper up with
water and put in linen. Boil for 2 hours. Repeat
this once a day for 4 days. The linen sh ould not be
wrung out but kept in the water till ready to be put
into the fresh bath.
ON WATER. — A constant supply of clean soft
water is a necessity for the dyer. Rain water should
be collected as much as possible, as this is the best
water to use. The dye house should be by a river or
stream, so that the dyer can wash with a continuous
supply. Spring and well water is as a rule hard, and
should be avoided. In washing, as well as in dyeing,
hard water is altogether injurious for wool. It ruins
the brilliancy of colour, and prevents the dyeing of
some colours. Temporary hardness can be over-
come by boiling the water (20 to 30 minutes) before
using. An old method of purifying water, which
is still used by some silk and wool scourers, is to boil
the water with a little soap,skimming offthe surface
as it boils. In many cases it is sufficient to add a little
acetic acid to the water.
Eertholletsxy^ — "Whenever, therefore, a water
is limpid, when its flow is constant, when it has no
sensible taste, and dissolves soap well, it may be re-
garded as very proper for dyeing." He also goes on
to say that for correcting water that is bad, sour
water is principally used, that is, water in which
bran has been fermented.
24
CHAPTER III.
MORDANTS
Definition of mordant. The principal mordants. The mordant-
ing of silk and wool. Of linen and cotton. Astringents for cotton.
Alum. Various examples of using alum for wool, silk, cotton and
linen. Iron. Examples of iron mordants. Tin. Examples
of tin mordants. Chrome. Examples of chrome mordants.
Copper. Examples of copper mordants. General observations.
Tannin and the galling of cotton and linen. Examples of various
galling processes.
MORDANTS. — Dyes are divided into two classes.
First, the substantive dyes, which give their colour
directly to the material with which they are boiled :
and second, the adjective dyes, as they are sometimes
called. These latter include the greater number of
dyes and require the use of a mordant to bring out
their colour.
There are thus two processes concerned with the
dyeing of most colours ; the first is mordanting and
25
the second is the colouring or actual dyeing. The
mordanting prepares the stuffto receive the dye —
(mordere, to bite.) The early French dyers thought
that a mordant had the effect of opening the pores of
the fibres, so that the dye could more easily enter ;
but according to Hummel and later dyers the action
of the mordant is purely chemical ; and he gives a
definition of a mordant as " that body, whatever it
may be, which is fixed on the fibre in combination
with any given colouring matter." The mordant
is first precipitated on to the fibre and combines with
the colouring matter in the subsequent dye bath.
But, whether the action is chemical or merely phy-
sical,the fact remains that all adjective dyes need this
preparation of the fibre before they will fix them-
selves on it. The use of a mordant, though not a ne-
cessity, is sometimes an advantage when using sub-
stantive dyes.
In early days the leaves and roots of certain plants
were used. This is the case even now in India and
other parts where primitive dyeing methods are still
carried on. Alum has been known for centuries in
Europe. Iron and tin filings have also been used.
Alum and copperas have been known in the High-
26
Ian ds for long ages. Stale urine is also much used in
Scotland and Ireland, but perhaps more as a clearing
agent than as an actual mordant.
Silk and wool require very much the same pre-
paration except that in the case of silk high temper-
atures should be avoided. Wool is generally boiled
in a weak solution of whatever mordant is used.
With silk, as a rule, it is better to use a cold solution,
or a solution at a temperature below boiling point.
Cotton and linen are more difficult to dye than wool
or silk. Their fibre is not so porous and will not
hold the dye stuff without a more complicated pre-
paration. The usual method of preparing linen or
cotton is to boil it first with some astringent. The
use of astringents in dyeing depends upon the tannic
acid they contain. In combination with ordinary
mordants, tannic acid aids the attraction of the col-
ouring matter to the fibre and adds brilliancy to the
colours. The astringents mostly used are tannic
acid, gall nuts, sumach and myrobalams. Cotton
has a natural attraction for tannic acid, so that when
once steeped in its solution it is not easily removed
by washing.
ALUM. (Aluminium sulphate. *)-li\\isis\.\\e most
27
generally used of all the mordants, and has been
known as such from early times in many parts of.the
world. For most colours a certain proportion of
cream of tartar should be added to the alum bath as it
helps to brighten the ultimate colour. The usual
amount of alum used is a quarter of a pound to every
pound of wool. As a rule, less mordant is needed for
light colours than for dark An excess of alum is
apt to make the wool sticky.
" For dyeing worsted and stuffs yellow, you make
use of the usual preparation, viz., of tartar and alum.
You allow four ounces of alum to every pound of
wool, or twenty-five pounds to every hundred.
With regard to the tartar, one ounce to every pound
is sufficient for yellow, though it requires two for
red."— Hellot.
The usual length of time for boiling with alum is
from | an hour to i hour ; but some dyers give as
much as 2 1 hours.
Various examples of mordanting with alum. —
For silk. Wet out the silk thoroughly with water
and wring out. Then work it about a little in a
strong solution of alum, previously dissolved in hot
28
water, and steep for several hours (or over night) .
Then wash well. It should not be allowed to dry be-
fore dyeing. " Silks are always alumed in the cold,
because when they are alumed in a hot bath, they
are apt to lose a portion of their lustre." Bert ho I let.
ForVoool. £lb. of Alum and i oz. Cream of tartar
for every pound of wool. This is dissolved and when
the water is warm the wool is entered. Raise to
boiling point and boil for one hour. The bath is
then taken offthe fire and allowed to cool over night.
The wool is then wrung out (not washed) and put
away in a linen bag in cool place for four or five days,
when it is ready for dyeing.
For cotton and linen. After boiling in water (some
use a sour water, some an alkaline ley) the cotton is
put into the alum bath. £ Ib. of Alum to i Ib. of
cotton. The alum is dissolved in hot water with
soda in the proportion of i part soda to 1 6 of alum.
(Some add a small quantity of tartar and arsenic) .
The cotton is well worked in this solution and left
24 hours. It is then washed,and afterwards galled.
For linen. \ Ib. alum for every pound of linen.
Boil for 2 1 hours and immediately put into the dye
bath.
29
For wool. 6 to 8 per cent, of alum and 5 to 7 per
cent, of tartar of the weight of wool.
IRON. (Ferrous Sulphate, copper as, green vitriol)
Iron is one of the oldest mordants known and is
largely used in wool and cotton dyeing. It is almost
as important as alum. With wool it should be used
in combination with cream of tartar. The temp-
erature of the mordanting bath must be raised very
gradually to boiling point or the wool will dye un-
evenly. A general method of dealing with cop-
peras is to boil the wool first in a decoction of
the colouring matter and then add the mordant to
the same bath in a proportion of 5 to 8 percent, of
the weight of wool : and continue boiling for half an
hour or so longer. With some dyes a separate bath
is needed, such as with Camwood or Catechu. If
used for cotton, the cotton is first dyed in a boiling
decoction of the dye stufFand then passed through a
cold solution of ferrous sulphate. Probably the
commonest way of applying copperas in cotton
dyeing is to prepare the cotton with tannin, pass
through clear lime water and then through a cop-
peras solution. Great care is needed in the using of
3°
copperas, as, unless it is thoroughly dissolved and
mixed with the water before the wool is entered, it is
apt to stain the wool. It also hardens wool if used
in excess, or if boiled too long.
Copperas is mostly used for the fixing of wool col-
ours (Fustic etc.) to produce brown shades by the
"stuffing and saddening"method (seepage 14), the
wool being boiled first in a decoction of the dye for
about an hour, and then for | an hour with the add-
ition of 5 to 8 per cent, of copperas. If used for
darkening colours, copperas is added to the bath,
after the dyeing, and the boiling continued for 1 5 to
20 minutes.
Examples of Various proportions for Mordanting. —
8 percent, of copperas and 20 per cent of cream
of tartar is a mordant used for some colours.
4 per cent, copperas i o per cent, cream of tartar
gives good olive colours with weld.
8 per cent, copperas without tartar with single
bath method, for dark olive brown with old fustic.
2 oz. copperas and 2 oz. cream of tartar to 2\ Ibs.
wool.
2 oz. copperas, i|oz. oxalic acid to 2| Ibs. wool.
31
TIN. — (Stannous chloride, tin crystals, tin salts,
muriate of tin.)
Tin is not so useful as a mordant in itself, but as a
modifying agent with other mordants. It must be
always used with great care, as it tends to harden the
wool, making it harsh and brittle. Its general
effect is to give brighter, clearer and faster colours
than the other mordants. When used as a mordant
before dyeing, the wool is entered into the cold mor-
danting bath, containing 4 per cent, of stannous
chloride and 2 per cent, oxalic acid : the temper-
ature is gradually raised to boiling, and kept at this
temperature for i hour. It is sometimes added to
the dye bath towards the end of dyeing, to intensify
and brighten the colour. It is also used with cochi-
neal for scarlet on wool, in the proportion of 6 per
cent, of stannous chloride and 4 per cent, of cream of
tartar. Boil for i to 1 1 hours. Then wash well.
The washing after mordanting is not always essen-
tial. Also 6 to 8 per cent, of oxalic acid and 6 per
cent, of stannous chloride, for cochineal on wool.
This mordant produces bright fast yellows from old
fustic, by boiling the wool from i to ij hours, with
8 per cent, of stannous chloride and 8 per cent, of
32
cream of tartar. One recipe gives 2 oz. tin and 4!
oz. cream of tartar to 2\ Ibs. wool in i o gallons of
water. It is not a suitable mordant alone for cotton,
but can be used to brighten the colour in combina-
tion with other mordants. " The nitro-muriate of
tin (dyer's spirit) although it produces good yellows
with quercitron bark, produces them in a much
weaker degree than the murio-sulphate of that
metal, which is really the cheapest and most effi-
cacious of all the solutions or preparations of tin for
dyeing quercitron as well as the cochineal colours"
Bancroft.
CHROME. (Potassiumdichromate. Bichromate
of Potash.)
Chrome is a modern mordant, unknown to the
dyer of 50 years ago. It is excellent for wool and is
easy to u se and very effective in its action. Its great
advantage is that it leaves the wool soft to the touch,
whereas the other mordants are apt to harden the
wool. In commercial dyeing it is now almost ex-
clusively used, as it has proved itself the most gener-
ally convenient. By some it is said not to be so fast
to light as the other mordants, but it produces
brighter colours. The wool should be boiled for
3.3
one to one & a half hours with bichromate of potash
in the proportion of 2 to 4 per cent, of the wool. It
is then washed well and immediately dyed. Wool
mordanted with chrome should not be exposed to
light, but should be kept well covered with the
liquid while being mordanted, else it is liable to dye
unevenly. An excess of chrome impairs the colour.
3 per cent, of chrome is a safe quantity to use for or-
dinary dyeing. One recipe gives 1 1 oz. of chrome
to 2| Ibs. of wool. It should be dissolved in the bath
while the water is heating. The wool is entered
and the bath gradually raised to the boiling point,
and boiled for three quarters of an hour.
In the dyeing of cotton, it is used for catechu
browns and other colours. The cotton is soaked in
a decoction of catechu, and afterwards passed
through a boiling solution of chrome,or it is worked
for half an hour in a bath of chrome at 60° C., and
then washed. It is usual to wash wool or cotton
after mordanting with chrome, but some dyers do
not think it necessary.
COPPER. (Copper Sulphate, Verdigris, blue
vitriol, blue-stone).
Copper is rarely used as a mordant. It is usually
34
applied as a saddening agent, that is, the wool is dyed,
first, and the mordant applied afterwards to fix the
colour. With cream of tartar it is used sometimes
as an ordinary mordant before dyeing, but th e col-
ours so produced have no advantage over colours
mordanted by easier methods.
EXAMPLES. — 6 per cent of copper is used as a mor-
dant for weld to produce an olive yellow. 4 to 5
per cent, is used with old fustic for yellow. i o per
cent, of copper gives to wool a reddish purple with
cochineal.
Mordants should not affect the physical charac-
teristics of the fibres. Sufficient time must be allow-
ed forthe mordant to penetrate the fibre thoroughly.
If the mordant is only superficial, the dye will be
uneven : it will fade and will not be as brilliant as it
should be. The brilliancy and fastness of Eastern
dyes are probably due to a great extent to the length
of time taken over the various processes of dyeing.
The longer time that can begfoen to eachprocess^ the more
satisfactory will be the result.
Different mordants give different colours with
the same dye stuff. For example : — Cochineal, if
35
mordanted with alum, will give a crimson colour ;
with iron, purple ; with tin, scarlet ; and with
chrome or copper, purple. Logwood, also , if mor-
danted with alum, gives a mauve colour; if mordant-
ed with chrome, it gives a blue. Fustic, weld, and
most of the yellow dyes, give a greeny yellow with
alum, but an old gold colour with chrome ; and
fawns of various shades with other mordants.
TANNIN. — (Dannie Acid.) — Tannins are used
in the dyeing of cotton and linen. Cotton and linen
possess the remarkable power of attracting tannins
from their aqueous solution, and when these sub-
stances are prepared with tannins, they are able to
retain dyes permanently. Cotton saturated with
tannin, attracts the dye stuffmore rapidly, and holds
it. Tannicacid is the best tannin for mordanting
cotton and linen, as it is the purest and is free from
any other colouring matter. It is, therefore, used
for pale and bright shades. But for dark shades,
substances containing tannic acid are used, such as
sumach, myrobalans, valonia, divi-divi, oak galls,
chesnut (8 to i o per cent of tannin) , catechu.
Cotton and linen are prepared with tannin after
they have been through the required cleansing, and
36
if necessary, bleaching operations. A bath is pre-
pared with 2 to 5 per cent, of tannic acid of the
weight of the cotton, and a sufficient quantity of
water. For dark shades, 5 to i o per cent, should be
used. The bath is used either hot or cold. It
should not be above 60° C. The cotton is worked in
this for some time, and then left to soak for 3 to 12
hours, while the bath cools. It is then wrung out
and slightly washed.
The following gives the relative proportions of
the various substances containing tannin : — i Ib.
tannin equals 4 Ibs. sumach, 1 8 Ibs. myrobalans, 14.
Ibs. divi-divi, 1 1 Ibs. oak galls.
A few examples taken from various recipes of
cotton dyeing : —
For i o Ibs. cotton use 1 2 oz. tannin.
„ 50 „ „ „ 10 Ibs. sumach.
„ 40 „ „ „ rolbs. „
„ 20 „ „ „ 2 Ibs. yellow catechu or
black catechu.
„ 20 „ „ spend 3 Ibs. of catechu with 302.
of blue vitriol.
Some recipes soak the cotton for 24 hours, others
for 48 hours.
37
CHAPTER IV
BRITISH DYE PLANTS
The introduction of foreign dye woods and other
dyes during the 1 7th and 1 8th centuries rapidly dis-
placed the native dye plants,except in certain out of
the way places such as the Highlands and parts of J
Ireland. Some of these British dye plants had been
used from early historical times for dyeing. Some
few are still in use in commercial dye work (pear,
sloe, and a few others) ; but their disuse was practic-
ally completed during the i gth century when the
chemical dyes ousted them from the market.
The majority of these plants are not very import-
ant as dyes, and could not probably now be collected
in sufficient quantities. Some few however are
important, suchaswoad, weld, heather, walnut,
alder, oak, some lichens; and many of the less
Important ones would produce valuable colours if
experiments were made with the right mordants.
Those which have been in use in the Highlands are
most of them good dyes. Among these are Ladies
Bedstraw,whortleberry, yellow iris, bracken, bram-
ble, meadow sweet, alder, heather and many others.
The yellow dyes are the most plentiful, and many of
these are good fast colours. Practically no good
red, in quantity, is obtainable. Madder is the only
reliable red dye among plants, and that is no longer
indigenous in England. Most of the dye plants re-
quire a preparation of the material to be dyed, with,
alum, or some other mordant, but a few,such as Bar-
berry, and some of the lichens, are substantive dyes,
and require no mordant.
PLANTS WHICH DYE RED. —
Potentil. Potentilla Tormentilla. Roots.
Wild Madder. Rubiaperegrina.
Lady'sBedstraw. Galiumverum. Roots.
Gromwell. Lithospermum arvense.
Marsh Potentil. Potentilla Comarum. Roots.
Birch. Betulaalba. Fresh inner bark.
Bed-straw. Gallium boreale. Roots.
39
Common Sorrel. Rumexacetosa. Roots.
Evergreen Alkanet. Anchusa sempervirens.
With chloride of tin.
Dyer's Woodruff. zAsperula tinctoria. Roots.
PLANTS WHICH DYE BLUE.—
Woad. Isatis Tinctoria.
Whortleberry or blaeberry. Vaccinium Myrtillus.
Berries.
Elder. Sambucus nigra. Berries.
Privet. Ligustrum tulgare. Berries, with alum
and salt.
* Sloe. Prunus communis. Fruit.
Red bearberry. Arctostaphylos Ul>a-Ursi.
Dogs Mercury. Mercurialis perennis.
Yellow Iris. Iris Pseudacorus. Root.
Devil's Bit. Scabiosa succisa. Leaves prepared
like woad.
PLANTS WHICH DYE YELLOW. —
Weld. Reseda luteola.
* "On boiling sloes, their juice becomes red, and the red dye
which it imparts to linen changes, when washed with soap,
into a bluish colour, which is permanent."
4o
Meadow Rue. Thalictrumjiavum. Roots.
Marsh Marigold. Caltha palustris. Flowers.
S. John's Wort. Hypericum perforatum.
Heath. Brica vulgaris. With Alum.
Spindle tree. Euonymus Europtzus.
Buckthorn. Rhamnus frangula and 2^. cath-
artic a. Berries and Bark.
•f" Dyer's Greenwood. Genista tmctona. Young
shoots and leaves.
Kidney Vetch. Anthyllis Vulnararia.
Marsh Potentil. Potentilla Comarum.
Ling. Calluna vulgar is.
Yellow Centaury . Ghlora perfoliata.
Hornbeam. Carpinus Betulus. Bark.
Hedge stachys. Stachys palustris.
Polygonum Persecaria.
Polygonum Hydropiper.
Hop. Humulus lupulus.
Stinking Willy, or Ragweed. Senecio yacobcea
Yellow Camomile. Anthemis tinctoria.
Common dock. Rumex obtusifolius. Root.
t "For giving very inferior yellow upon coarser woollens,
the dyer's broom, genista tinctoria, is sometimes employed, with
the common preparation of alum and tartar."
41
J Saw wort. Serratula tmctoria.
Gorse. Ulex Europ<zus. Bark, flowers and
young shoots.
Broom. Sarothamnusscoparius.
Bracken. Pteris aquilina. Roots. Also young
tops.
Way-faring tree. Viburnum lantana. Leaves,
with alum.
Bramble. Rubusfructicosus.
Nettle. Urtica. With alum.
Bog Myrtle or Sweet Gale. Myrica Gale.
Teasel. Dipsacus Syhestru.
Sundew. Drosera.
Barberry. Berberis^Dulgaris. Stem and root.
Bog asphodel. S^arthecium ossifragum.
Agrimony. Agrimonia Eupatoria.
Yellow corydal. Corydalis lutea.
Privet. Ligustrum vu/gare. Leaves.
Crab Apple. Pyrus Malus. Fresh inner bark.
Ash. Fraxtnus excelsior. Fresh inner bark.
Pear. Leaves.
J Sawwort which grows abundantly in meadows affords a
very fine pure yellow with alum mordant, which greatly resem-
bles weld yellow. It is extremely permanent,"
42
Poplar. Leaves.
Plum. „
Birch. „
§ Willow. „
PLANTS WHICH DYE GREEN. —
y Privet. Ligustrum vu/gare. Berries and leaves,
with alum.
Flowering reed. Phragmites communis. Flower-
ing tops, with copperas.
Elder. Sambucus nigra. Leaves with alum.
Nettle. Urtica dioica and U. Urens.
§ "The leaves of the sweet willow, salix pentandra, gathered
at the end of August and dried in the shade, afford, if boiled with
about one thirtieth potash, a fine yellow colour to wool, silk and
thread, with alum basis. All the 5 species of Erica or heath grow-
ing on this island are capable of affording yellows much like those
from the dyer's broom; also the bark and shoots of the Lombardy
Tpop\arypopuluspyramida/is. The three leaved hellebore, helleborus
trifoliusy for dyeing wool yellow is used in Canada. The seeds of
the purple trefoil,lucerne,andfenugreek,the flowers of the French
marigold, the chamomile, antemis tinctoria, the ash,fraxinus ex-
celsior^ fumitory ,fumaria officinalis, dye wool yellow." "The
American golden rod, solidago canademis, affords a very beautiful
yellow to wool, silk and cotton upon an aluminous basis." —
Bancroft.
43
Lily of the valley. Con^alaria majalis. Leaves.
Larch. Bark, with alum.
PLANTS WHICH DYE BROWN.—
Whortleberry. V actinium My r til I us. Young
shoots, with nut galls.
Larch. Pine needles, collected in Autumn.
Walnut. Root and green husks of nut.
Water Lily. Nymphcea alba. Root.
Alder. Alnus glutinosa. Bark.
Birch. Eetula alba. Bark.
Oak. Quercus Robur. Bark.
Red currants, with alum.
Hop. Humulus lupulus. Stalks give a brown-
ish red colour.
PLANTS WHICH DYE PURPLE. —
Whortleberry or blaeberry. Vactinium myr-
tillus. Berries. " It contains a blue or purple
dye which will dye wool and silk without
mordant."
Deadly nightshade. Atropa Belladonna.
Sundew. T)rosera.
Bryony. Bryonia diolca. Berries.
Danewort. Sambucus Ebulus. Berries.
44
Elder. Sambucus nigra. Berries, with alum,
a violet ; with alum and salt, a lilac colour.
Dandelion. Taraxacum Dens-leonis. Roots.
Dyes a magenta colour.
Damson. Fruit, with alum.
PLANTS WHICH; DYE BLACK. —
v Alder. Alnus glutmosa. Bark with copperas.
Blackberry. Rubusfruticosus. Young shoots,
with salts of iron.
Dock. Rumex. Root.
Iris. Iris Pseudacorus. Root.
Meadowsweet. Spirea Ulmaria.
Oak. Bark and acorns.
Elder. Bark, with copperas.
45
CHAPTER. V.
THE LICHEN DYES.
Some of the most useful dyes and the least known
are to be found among the Lichens. They seem to
have been used among peasant dyers from remote
ages, but apparently none of the great French dyers
used them, nor are they mentioned in any of the old
books on dyeing. The only Lichen dyes that are
known generally among dyers are Orchil and Cud-
bear, and these are preparations of lichens, not the
lichens themselves. They are still used in some
quantity and are prepared rather elaborately. But a
great many of the ordinary Lichens yield very good
and permanent dyes. The Parmelia saxatilis and
P.omphaloides, are largely used in the Highlands &
West Ireland, for dyeing brown of all shades. No
46
mordant is needed, and the colours produced are the
fastest known. " Crottle," is the general name for
Lichens, in Scotland. They are gathered off the
rocks in July and August, dried in the sun, and used
to dye wool, without any preparation. The crottle
is put into the dye bath with a sufficient quantity of
water, boiled up and allowed to cool and then boiled
up with the wool until the shade required is got.
This may take from one to three or four hours, as the
dye is not rapidly taken up by the wool. Other
dyers use it in the following way : — A layer of crot-
tle, a layer of wool, and so on until the bath is full;
fill up with cold water and bring to the boil, and boil
till the colour is deep enough. Some of the finest
browns are got in this way. The wool does not
seem to be affected by keeping it in the dye a long
time. A small quantity of acetic acid put in with
the Lichen is said to assist in exhausting the colour.
The grey Lichen Ramalina scopulorum, dyes a fine
shade of yellow brown. It grows very plentifully
on old stone walls,especially by the sea, and in damp
wcods, on trees, and on old rotten wood. Boil the
Lichen up in sufficient water one day, and the next
day put in the wool, and boil up again till the right
47
colour is got. If the wool is left in the dye for a day
or more after boiling, it absorbs more colour, and it
does not hurt the wool, but leaves it soft and silky to
the touch, though apt to be uneven in colour. Some
mordant the wool first with alum, but it does not
seem to need it.
The best known of the dye Lichens are Parmelia
saxatilis, and Parmelia omphalodes, which are still
largely used in Scotland and Ireland for dyeing wool
for tweeds. The well known Harris tweed smell is
partly due to the use of this dye.
Other Lichens also known for their dyeing pro-
perties are : — Parmelia caperata or Stone Crottle
which contains a yellow dye, P. ceratophylla, or
Dark Crottle, and P. parietina, the common wall
lichen, which gives a colour similar to the colour of
the lichen itself, yellowish brown. In Bancroft's
" Philosophy of Permanent Colours" is to be found
the following — " Besides the lichens, whose colour
depends upon a combination with the ammonia,
there are some which afford substantive colours,less
beautiful indeed, but more durable, by merely boil-
ing with water. One of these is the muscus pulmo-
nariusof Caspar Bauhine, or the lichenoides pulmo-
nium reticulatum vulgare marginibus peltiferus of
Dillenius, called Rags and Stone Rags, in the north-
ern parts of England, which, without any mordant,
dyes a very durable dark brown colour upon white
wool or cloth, and a fine lasting black upon wool or
cloth which has previously received a dark blue
from Indigo." The following occurs in an old
Scottish history.—" There isoneexcresencegotton
off the craigs which they call cork-lit, and make use
thereof for litting, or dyeing a kind of purple col-
our." Another lichen, taken from trees in Scot-
land, was used for producing an orange tint, called
Philamort. The tree lichen was called wood-raw,
or rags, to distinguish it from stone lichen, or stone-
raw. A deep red colour was got from the dull grey
friable lichen, common on old stonewalls, which
was scraped off, with a metal scraper. The bright
yellow lichen, growing on rocks and walls, and old
roofs, dyes a fine plum colour, if the wool is mor-
danted first with Bichromate of Potash. There is
a difficulty, however, in getting enough of this
lichen to make the dyeing with it practicable.
The colour of the plant is no indication of the
colorific power. That is often greatly modified by
49
the conditions of its growth, — such as climate,elev-
ation above the sea, nearness or distance from the
sea, age, season when gathered, habitat. The best
season for gathering most lichens, is late summer
and autumn.
In Sweden, Scotland and other countries, the
peasantry use a lichen, called Lecanora tartarea^ to
furnish a red or crimson dye.
In Shetland, the Parmelia saxatilis (Scrottyie)
is used to dye brown. It is found in abundance on
argillaceous rocks. It is considered best if gathered
late in the year, and is generally collected in August.
Immediately after being collected, an iron vessel is
filled with it, and stale urine then poured over it,
till the vessel is full. This is slowly boiled until the
plant begins to assume a mucillaginous appearance,
which generally takes place in about 2 hours.
When taken off the fire, it has the consistence of a
thin jelly, but it speedily hardens until it is nearly
as thick as porridge, and its colour becomes a dark
rusty grey. It is then folded in the cloth, layer by
layer of Scrottyie and cloth alternately, and all is
boiled for about 20 minutes, in soft water, in which
a little alum has been dissolved. It is then taken off
5°
the fire and the cloth washed in cold water, when
the process of dyeing is complete. The Scrottyie,
taken from between the folds of the cloth, is used
several times for dyeing, on being treated again in
the same manner.
The plant used in Shetland for the red dye is the
Lecanora tartarea. It is found abundantly on al-
most all rocks and also grows on dry moors, along
with Cladonia sangiferina. (If a particle of the
latter is allowed to be intermixed with the dye, it is
supposed to be spoiled.) The lichen, and the dye
made from it, are called Korkalett. This lichen
is collected in May and June, and steeped in stale
urine for about 3 weeks, being kept at a moderate
heat all the time. The substance having then a thick
and strong texture, like bread,and being of a bluish
black colour, is taken out and made into small cakes
of about | Ib. in weight, which are wrapped in dock
leaves and hung up to dry in peat smoke. When
dry it may be preserved fit for use for many years ;
when wanted for dyeing it is partially dissolved in
warm water till of the consistence of Scrottyie, the
dyeing proceeds in the same manner; 5lbs. of kor-
kalett being considered sufficient for about 4 Scotch
5*
ells of cloth. The colour produced is a light red.
It is much used in the dyeing of yarn as well as cloth.
The yarn is simply boiled in it without folding as in
the case of cloth.*
Linnaeus mentions that a beautiful red colour may
be prepared from Lichen pustulatus, Gyrophora
pustulata. G. cyllndrica is used by Icelanders
for dyeing woollen stuffs a brownish green colour.
In Sweden and Norway, Everm'a vu/pma is used
for dyeing woollen stuffs yellow. Iceland moss,
Cetraria Islandica, is used in Iceland for dyeing
brown. Usnea barbata is collected from trees in
Pennsylvania & used for an orange colour for yarn.
Lecanora tar tare a (cor cur of the Scottish High-
landers) dyes a claret. It is usually prepared by
pounding the lichen and mixing it with stale cham-
berley , to which a little salt or kelp is added ; th is
mixture is kept for several weeks, and frequently
stirred ; being then brought to the consistence of
coarse paste, it is made up into balls, with a little
lime or burnt shells, and is kept ready for use. When
used, it is coarsely powdered and a small portion of
alum is generally added.
*T. Edmonston. On the Native Dyes of the Shetland Islands 1841.
52
A general method for using lichens is suggested
by Dr. Westring of Sweden, in his " Experiments
on Lichens for Dyeing Wools and Silks." He says :
"The Lichens should be gathered after some days
of rain, they can then be more easily detached from
the rocks. They should be well washed , dried and
reduced to a fine powd er : 25 parts pure river water
are added to i of powdered lichen, and I part of fresh
quicklimeto 10 parts powdered lichen. To iqlbs.
lichen |lb. sal ammoniac is sufficient when lime and
sal ammoniac are used together. The vessel con-
taining them should be kept covered for the first 2
or 3 days. Sometimes the addition of a little com-
mon salt or salt-petre will give greater lustre to the
colours."*
This method can be followed by anyone wishing
to experiment with Lichens. Dr. Westring did
not use a mordant as a rule. Where the same spe-
cies of Lichen grows on both rocks and trees, the
specimens taken from rocks give the better colours.
ORCHIL OR ARCHIL AND CUDBEAR are substan-
tive or non mordant dyes, obtained from Lichens of
* The Annales de Chimie. Stockholm Transactions 1792.
S3
various species of Roccella growing on rocks in the
Canary Islands and other tropical and sub-tropical
countries. They used to be made in certain parts
of Great Britain from various lichens,but the manu-
facture of these has almost entirely disappeared.
They have been known from early times as dyes.
They give beautiful purples and reds, but the colour
is not very fast. The dye is produced by the action
of ammonia and oxygen upon the crushed Lichens
or weeds as they are called. The early way of pro-
ducing the colour was by treating the Lichen with
stale urine and slaked lime, and this method was fol-
lowed in Scotland. Orchil is applied to wool by
the simple process of boiling it in a neutral or slight-
ly acid solution of the colouring matter. 3 ^Sul-
phuric acid is a useful combination. Sometimes
alum and tartar are used. It dyes slowly and evenly.
It is used as a bottom for Indigo on wool and also for
compound shades on wool and silk. For cotton and
linen dyeing it is not used. It is rarely used by itself
as the colour is fugitive, but by using a mordant of
tin, the colour is made much more permanent.
" Archil is in general a very useful ingredient in
dyeing ; but as it is rich in colour, and communi-
54
cates an alluring bloom, dyers are often tempted to
abuse it, and to exceed the proportions that can add
to the beauty, without, at the same time, injuring in
a dangerous manner the permanence of the colours.
Nevertheless, the colour obtained when solution of
tin is employed, is less fugitive than without this
addition, "-j-
Many of the British lichens produce colours by
the same treatment as is used for producing Orchil.
Large quantities were manufactured in Scotland
from lichens gathered in the Shetland Islands and
Western Highlands. This was called Cudbear.
The species used by the Scottish Cudbear makers
were generally Lecanora tartarea and Urceolaria
calcarea ; but the following lichens also give the
purple colour on treatment with ammonia. — E^er-
maprunastri^ Lecanora pallescens^ ~Umbilkariatvellea
U. pustulata^ Par me Ha perlata ; whilst several
others give colours of similar character, but of
little commercial value. The manufacture of
Archil and Cudbear from the various lichens is
simple in principle. In all cases the plant is reduced
t The Art of Dyeing. Berthollet. He gives minute directions for
the preparation of Archil, see page 365.
55
to a pulp with water and ammonia, and the mass
kept at a moderate heat and allowed to ferment, the
process taking two or three weeks to complete. The
ammonia used to be added in the form of stale urine,
and additions of slaked lime were made from time
to time. § The general mode of treatment for the
development from the dye lichens of orchil and
cudbear consists of the following steps : —
i. — Careful washing, drying and cleaning, to
separate earthy and other impurities.
2. — Pulverisation into a coarse or fine pulp
with water.
3 . — Regulated addition of ammonia of a cer-
tain strength and derived from various sources
(putrid urine, gas liquor, etc.)
4. — Frequent stirring of the fermenting mass
so as to ensure full exposure of every part thereof
to the action of atmospheric oxygen.
5. — Addition of alkalis in some cases (e.g. pot-
ash or soda) to heighten or modify the colour ;
and of chalk, gypsum and other substances, to
§ Some British Dye Lichens. Alfred Edge.
56
impart consistence. Various accessories are em-
ployed, e.g. the application of continued, mode-
rate and carefully regulated heat during the pro-
cess of fermentation. J
RECIPES FOR DYEING WITH LICHENS.
To dye Brown with Crotal.
For 6^ Ibs. ( i oo oz.) of wool. Dye baths may be
used of varying strengths of from ioto5o oz. of
Crotal. Raise the bath to the boil, and boil for an
hour. A light tan shade is got by first dipping the
wool in a strong solution of Crotal, a darker shade by
boiling for half-an-hour, and a dark brown by boil-
ing for two hours or so. It is better, however, to
get the shade by altering the quantity of Crotal
used. The addition of sufficient oil of vitriol to
make the bath slightly acidwill be an improvement.
(A very small quantity should be used) .
To Dye Red with Crotal. —
Gather the lichen offthe rocks — it is best in win-
ter. Put layers of lichen and wool alternately in a
J From Dr. W. L. Lindsay, On Dyeing Properties of Lichens.
57
pot, fill up with water and boil until you get the de-
sired tint. Too much crotal will make the wool a
dark red brown, but a very pretty terra cotta red can
begot. No mordant is required.
To T)ye Pin\ from a bright yellow Lichen. (Parmelia
parietina).
Mordant the wool with 3 % of Bichromate of
Potash,then boil with the lichen for i hour or more.
To Dye Brown from Crotal.
Boil the wool with an equal quantity of lichen for
i or 1 1 hours. No mordant is required.
To dye red purple from Cudbear & Logwood.
Dye with equal quantities of Cudbear and Log-
wood, the wool having been mordanted with
chrome. A lighter colour is got by dyeing with
8 Ibs. cudbear and | Ib. logwood (for 30 Ibs. wool) .
To Dye Yellow on Linen with the Lichen Peltigera
canina (a large flat lichen growing on rocks in
woods).
Mordant with alum, (^lb. to alb. of linen) boil
for 2 hours. Then boil up with sufficient quantity
of the lichen till the desired colour is got.
58
LIST OF LICHENS USED BY THE
PEASANTRY OF DIFFERENT
COUNTRIES FOR WOOL
DYEING.*
SHADES OF RED, PURPLE AND ORANGE.
Roccella tinctorta. Orseille. Grows in the South
of France, on rocks by the sea.
Lecanora tartar ea. Crotal, Crottle, Corkur, Cor-
cir, Korkir. Found in the Scotch Highlands
and Islands, growing on rocks ; used for the
manufacture of Cudbear in Leith & Glasgow.
L. parella. Light Crottle, Crabs Eye Lichen.
Found in Scotland, France, and England, on
rocks and trees, formerly celebrated in the
South of France in the making of the dye called
Orseille d'Auvergne.
L. hcematomma. — Bloody spotted lecanora, Black
lecanora. Found in Scotland on rocks and
trees.
* From an articl e by Dr. Lauder Lindsay on the "Dyeing Pro-
perties of Lichens," in the Edinburgh Philosophical Journal. July
to October 1855.
59
Umbilicaria pustulata. — Blistered umbilicaria.
Found on rocks in Norway and Sweden.
Isidium corallinum. White crottle. Found on rocks
in Scotland.
I. Westringii. Westring's Isidium. Norway and
Sweden.
Urceolaria calcarea. Corkir, Limestone Urceo-
laria. Found in Scotland, Western Islands,
Shetland and Wales, growing on limestone
rocks.
U. Scruposa. Rock Urcolaria. Grows on rocks
in hilly districts in England.
U. cinerea. Greyish Urceolaria. In England, on
rocks.
Parmelia saxatilis. Crottle, stane-raw, Staney-raw,
(Scotland). Scrottyie, (Shetland). Sten-laf,
Sten-mossa, (Norway and Sweden) . Found
on rocks and stones in Scotland, Shetland, and
Scandinavia. In winter the Swedish pea-
santry wear home made garments dyed purple
by this lichen. By the Shetlanders it is usually
collected in August,when it is considered rich-
est in colouring matter.
6o
P. omphalodes. Black Crottle, Cork, Corker,Cros-
til or Crostal, (Scotch Highlands) . Arcel, Ire-
land). Kenkerig, (Wales). Alaforel-leaf,
(Sweden) . Found on rocks,especially Alpine,
in Scotland, Ireland, Wales and Scandinavia.
One of the most extensively used dye-lichens.
It yields a dark brown dye readily to boiling
water, and it is easily fixed to yarns by simple
mordants. It is stated to yield a red, crimson
or purple dye.
P. caper ata. Stone crottle, Arcel. Found in North
of Ireland and Isle of Man, on trees. Said to
dye yarn brown, orange and lemon yellow.
P. conspersa. Sprinkled parmelia. Found grow-
ing on rocks in England.
Evernia prunastri. Ragged hoary lichen. Stag's
horn lichen. Found in Scotland, on trees.
Ramalina scopulorum. Ivory-like ramalina. Scot-
land, on maritime rocks. A red dye.
R.farinacea. Mealy ramalina. On trees in
England.
Eorrera ashney. Chutcheleera. India.
6i
Solorina crocea. Saffron yellow solorina. In Scot-
land, on mountain summits. The colouring
matter is ready formed and abundant in the
thallus.
Nephroma parilis. Chocolate colored nephroma.
Scotland, on stones, Said to dye blue.
Sticta pulmonacea. On trees.
Lecidea sanguinaria. Red fruited lecidea. In
Scotland, on rocks.
Conicularia aculeata. var. spadicea. Brown prick-
ly cornicularia. Canary Islands, Highland
Mountains.
Usnea barbata. Bearded Usnea. Pennsylvania
and South America. On old trees. Stated to
dye yarn orange.
U.forida. Flowering lusnea. Pale greenish yel-
low or reddish brown.
U. plicata. Plaited usnea. On trees.
SHADES OF BROWN
Cetraria Islandica. Iceland moss. Iceland heaths,
and hills. It yields a good brown to boiling
62
water, but this dye appears only to have been
made available to the Icelanders.
Parmelia physoides. Dark crot tie, Bjork-laf. Found
in Sweden, Scotland & Scandinavia, on rocks
and trees.
P. omphalodes. In Scandinavia and Scotland.
Withering asserts that it yields a purple dye
paler, but more permanent, than orchil ;
which is prepared in Iceland by steeping in
stale lye, adding a little salt and making it up
into balls with lime.
Sticta pulmonacea. Oak lung, Lungwort, Aikraw,
Hazel-raw, Oak rag, Hazel rag, Hazel crottle,
Rags. Found on trees in England, Scotland,
North of Ireland, Scandinavia. It dyes wool
orange and is said to have been used by the
Herefordshire peasantry to dye stockings
brown. Some species yield beautiful saffron
or gamboge coloured dyes. e.g.
crocata^ aurata.
For continuation of list see Appendix.
CHAPTER VI.
en'f/d f::
*BLUE
INDIGO, WOAD, LOGWOOD.
" Notwithstanding the very great facility of dye-
ing wool blue, when the blue vat is once prepared, it
is far otherwise with regard to the preparation of
this vat, which is actually the most difficult opera-
tion in the whole art of dyeing." — He I lot.
INDIGO
INDIGO is the blue matter extracted from a plant,
Indigofera tinctoria & other species,growing in Asia,
* Early dyers were particular as to the naming of their colours.
Here is a list of blues, published in 1669. — "White blue, pearl
blue, pale blue, faint blue, delicate blue, sky blue, queen's blue,
turkey blue, king's blue, garter blue, Persian blue, aldego blue,
and. infernal blue."
64
South America and Egypt. It reaches the market
in a fine powder, which is insoluble in water. There
are two ways of dyeing with indigo. It may be dis-
solved in sulphuric acid or oil of vitriol, thereby
making an indigo extract. This process was dis-
covered in 1 740. It gives good blue colours, but is
not very permanent. Darker colours by this me-
thod are more permanent than the paler ones. It
does not dye cotton or linen.
The other method is by the indigo vat process,
which produces fast colours, but is complicated and
difficult. In order to colour with indigo, it has to
be deprived of its oxygen. The deoxy dised indigo
is yellow, and in this state penetrates the woollen
fibre ; the more perfectly the indigo in a vat is de-
oxydised, the brighter and faster will be the colour.
For the dyeing of wool, the vats are usually heated
to a temperature of 50° C. Cotton and linen are
generally dyed cold.
j£Zi?//0/says " when the vat, of whatsoever kind it
be, is once prepared in a proper state, thereisno
difficulty in dyeing woollens or stuffs, as it is requi-
site only to soak them in clean warm water,to wring
them, and then to immerse them in the vat, fora
65
longer or shorter time, according as you would have
the colour more or less deep. The stuffshould be
from time to time opened, that is to say, taken out
and wrung over the) vat and exposed to the air for a
minute or two, till it becomes blue. For let your
vat be what it will, the stuff will be green when
taken out and will become blue when exposed to the
air. In this manner it is very proper to let the col-
our change before you immerse your stuffs a second
time, as you are thereby better enabled to judge
whether they will require only one or several dips. "
— " The Art of Dyeing Wool," by Hellot.
The colour of the blue is brightened by passing
the wool through boiling water after it comes out of
the dye. Indigo is a substantive dye and conse-
quently requires no mordant.
•f- 1). To MAKE EXTRACT OF INDIGO. —
Put 2 Ibs. of oil of vitriol into a glass bottle or jar,
stir in to it 8 oz. of powdered indigo, stirring briskly
1 1 give here recipes for the simpler vats which can be used on a
small scale. The more complicated recipes can only be done in a
well-fitted dye house. I would refer the reader to those in " The
Art of Dyeing "by Hellot, Macquerand D'Appligny, and "Ele-
ments of the Art of Dyeing " by Berthollet.
F
66
for I hour, then cover up and stir 4 or 5 times a day
for a few days, then add a little powdered chalk to
neutralise the acid. It should be added slowly, little
by little, as the chalk makes the acid bubble up.
Keep it closely corked.
2). To MAKE EXTRACT OF INDIGO. —
4 oz. sulphuric acid, | oz. finely ground Indigo.
Mix like mustard, and leave to stand over-night.
Prepare the wool by mordanting with 5 oz. alum to
i Ib. wool. Boil for | hour and dye without drying.
3). To DYE WOOL WITH INDIGO EXTRACT
For 4 to 6 Ibs. of wool. Stir 2 to 3 oz. of Indigo
extract into the water of the dye bath. The amount
is determined by the depth of shade required.
When warm, enter the wool, and bring slowly to
boiling point (about | hour) and continue boiling
for another | hour. By keeping it below boiling
point while dyeing, better colours are got, but it is
apt to be uneven. Boiling levels the colour but
makes the shade greener. This is corrected by add-
ing to the dye bath a little logwood, 10 to 20 per
cent. This should be boiled up separately, strained,
and put in the bath before the wool is entered. Too
67
much should be avoided however, as it dims the
colour. It can be done in the same bath, but better
results are got by separate baths. Instead of log-
wood a little madder is sometimes used ; also Cud-
bear or Barwood.
4). To DYE SILK WITH INDIGO EXTRACT.
Dye at a temperature of 40 to 50° C. in a bath
with a little sulphuric acid and the amount of indigo
as is needed for the colour. Another method is to
mordant the silk first with alum by steeping it for
1 2 hours in a solution of 25 per cent, and then, with-
out washing, to dye with the Indigo Extract and
about i o % of alum added to the dye bath. By this
means compound colours can be made by the addi-
tion of cochineal, for purple, or old Fustic, Log-
wood, etc., for greys browns and other colours.
5). SAXON BLUE. —
Put into a glazed earthen pot 4lbs. of good oil of
vitriol with 12 oz. of choice Indigo, stir this mix-
ture very hastily and frequently in order to excite a
fermentation. It is customary with some Dyers to
put into this composition a little antimony or salt-
petre, tartar,chalk, alum and other things, but I find
68
it sufficient to mix the oil and Indigo alone, and the
colours will be finer, for those neutral salts destroy
the acid of the vitriol and sully the colour. In 24
hours it is fit for use. Then a copper of a good size
is to be filled with fair water (into which one peck of
bran is put in a bag) and made pretty warm, the bran
after yielding its flower must be taken out, and the
Chymie, (Indigo Extract) mixed well with water
in a Piggin, (a small pot) is put in according
to the shade required, having first put in a hand-ful
of powdered tartar ; the cloth is to be well wet and
worked very quick over the winch (stick on which
it is hung) for half an hour. The liquor must not
be made hotter than for madder red (just under
boiling point) . The hot acid of the vitriol would
cause the blue to incline to green if too much heat
was given. (From an old Dye Book) .
6). To MAKE UP A BLUE VAT. —
Take i Ib. Indigo thoroughly ground, put this
into a deep vessel with about 1 2 gallons of water,
add 2lbs. copperas, and 3 Ibs. newly slaked lime, and
stir for 15 minutes. Stir again after 2 hours and re-
peat every 2 hours for 5 or 6 times. Towards the
69
end, the liquor should be a greenish yellow colour,
with blackish veins through it, and a rich froth of
Indigo on the surface. After standing 8 hours to
settle, the vat is fit to use.
7). TURQUOISE FOR WOOL. —
Mordant with alum. For a pale shade use i tea-
spoonful of Indigo Extract (see No. 2) for i Ib. of
wool. Boil ^ hour.
8). BLUE FOR WOOL. (Highlands).
Take a sufficiency of Indigo. (For medium
shade about i oz. to every pound of wool) . Dissolve
it in about as much stale urine (about a fortnight
old) as will make a bath for the wool. Make it luke-
warm. Put in the wool and keep it at the same
temperature till the dyeing is done. For a deep
navy blue it will take a month, but a pale blue will
be done in 3 or 4 days. Every morning and evening
the wool must be taken out of the dye bath, wrung
out and put back again. The bath must be kept
covered and the temperature carefully attended to.
Some add a decoction of dock roots the last day,
which is said to fix the blue. The wool must then
be thoroughly washed. This is a fast dye.
7°
9). INDIGO VAT. (For small dyers).
Add to 500 litres of stale urine 3 to 4 kilos of com-
mon salt and heat the mixture to 50° to 60° C., for
4 to 5 hours with frequent stirring, then add i kilo
of madder, i kilo of ground Indigo, stir well, and
allow to ferment till the Indigo is reduced.
10). SAXON BLUE. (Berthollet).
Prepare the wool with alum and tartar. A
smaller or greater proportion of the Indigo solution
is put into the bath, ( i part of Indigo with 8 parts of
sulphuric acid, digested for 24 hours) , according to
the depth of shade wished to be obtained. For
deep shades it is advantageous to pour in the solu-
tion by portions, lifting out the wool from the bath
while it is being added. The cold bath acts as well
as the hot. '*fin
n). THE COLD INDIGO VAT WITH URINE.
Take 4 Ibs. of powdered Indigo and put it into a
gallon of vinegar, leaving it to digest over a slow fire
for 24 hours. At the end of this time the Indigo
should be quite dissolved. If not dissolved pound
it up with some of the liquor adding a little urine.
Put into it I Ib. madder, mixing it well. Then pour
7'
it into a cask containing 60 gallons of urine (fresh or
stale). Mix and stir the whole together ; this
should be done morning and evening for 8 days or
until the surface becomes green when stirred, and
produces froth. It may be worked immediately
without any other preparation than stirring it 3 or
4 hours before-hand. This kind of vat is extremely
convenient, because when once prepared it remains
so always until it is entirely exhausted. According
as you would have your vat larger or smaller you re-
duce or enlarge the amount of the ingredients used
in the same proportion as the original. This vat is
sooner prepared in summer than in winter.
12). INDIGO VAT ON A SMALL SCALE FOR
WOOLLENS AND COTTONS. —
Have a strong 9 gallon cask, put into it 8 gallons .
of urine, havea4quartpicklejar, into which put
i Ib. ground Indigo and 3 pints of best vinegar ; put
the jar into a saucepan filled with water, and make
it boil well for 2 hours, stirring it all the time. Let
it stand in a warm place for 3 days, then pour it
into the cask ; rake it up twice a day for a month. It
must be covered from the air.
72
13). BLUE VAT FOR WOOLLENS. —
For every 20 gallons of water add 5 oz. ground
Indigo, 8 oz. of potash, 3 oz. madder, and 4 oz. bran.
Keep the solution at I4O°F. ; after 24 hours the
whole will have begun to ferment, then add 2 oz.
madder, stir and allow the whole to settle, after
which the vat is ready for use.
14). To DYE INDIGO BLUE. Urine Vat.-
Prepare vat as follows : — To 3! gallons of stale
urine add 4^ oz. of common salt, and heat the mix-
ture to 125° F. (as hot as the hand can bear). Keep
at this heat for 4 to 5 hours, frequently stirring,
then add i^ oz. thoroughly ground Indigo and
i ^ oz. Madder, stir well and allow to ferment till the
Indigo is reduced. This is recognized by the ap-
pearance of the vat, which should be of a greenish
yellow colour, with streaks of blue. Allow the vat
to settle, when you can proceed with dyeing. Pro-
cess of dyeing the same as in No. 15.
15). To DYE INDIGO BLUE. — Potash Vat. —
Into a pot 3 parts full of water put i|oz. Madder
and 1 1 oz. bran. Heat to nearly boiling, and keep
at this heat for 3 hours. Then add 5 oz. Carbonate
73
of Potash ; allow Potash to dissolve and let the
liquor cool down till luke-warm. Then add 5 oz.
thoroughly ground Indigo, stir well and leave to
ferment for two days, occasionally stirring, every
1 2 hours or so. Wool dyed in this vat must be tho-
roughly washed after the col our is obtained.
Process of Dyeing. — Into a vat prepared as above,
dip the wool. Keep it under the vat liquor, gently
moving about a sufficient time to obtain the colour
required. A light blue is obtained in a few seconds,
darker blues take longer. Take out wool, and
thoroughly squeeze out of it all the dye liquor back
into the vat. Spread out the wool on the ground,
exposed to the air till the full depth of colour is de-
veloped. The wool comes out of the vat a green-
ish shade, but the oxygen in the air darkens it,
through oxydation, to indigo blue. The wool
should now be washed in cold water with a little acid
added to it, and again thoroughly rinsed and dried.
1 6). BLUE VAT FOR COTTON. —
In a clean tub put 10 pails of water, slacken i
bushel of lime into it, and cover while slackening ;
put 6 Ibs. ground Indigo in a pot and mix it into a
74
paste with hot water and then put 4 pails of boiling
water on to it, stir it, cover it, and leave it. In an-
other pot, put 20 Ibs. copperas, pour 4 pails of water
on this, stir it and leave it covered. Pour 4 pails of
water on the top of the lime that is slackening, rake
it up well and put in the melted copperas ; rake it
well and put in the Indigo ; stir well and leave
covered for a couple of days, stirring occasionally.
Half fill a new vat with the mixture. Rake it well
and while you are raking, fill it up with clean water,
continue raking for an hour. Cover it over ; it can
be used the next day. This is a colour that never
washes out.
17). GLOUCESTERSHIRE LNDIGO VAT.
Size 5 feet over the top: 7 feet deep, 6 to 7 feet
at the bottom.
Take|cwt. bran, £ peck lime and 40 Ibs. indigo.
Warm up to 1 80 to 200 °F., rake it 4 times a day. If
it ferments too much add more lime: if not enough,
more bran. An experienced eye or nose will soon
tell when it is ripe or fit to use, which should be in
about 3 days. Regulate the strength of the vat from
time to time to the colour required. No madder or
woad is used when much permanency is wanted.
75
1 8). COLD INDIGO VAT FOR DYEING WOOL,
SILK, LINEN AND COTTON.
i part Indigo, 3 parts good quicklime, 3 parts
English vitriol, and i| parts of orpiment. The
Indigo is mixed with water, and the lime added,
stirred well, covered up, and left for some hours.
The powdered vitriol is then added, and the vat
stirred and covered up. After some hours the or-
piment powder is thrown in and the mixture is left
for some hours. It is then stirred well and allowed
to rest till the liquid at the top becomes clear. It
is then fit for dyeing.
f!9f"
\ WOAT)
Woad is derived from a plant, Isatistinctoria^
growing in the North of France and in England.
It was the only blue dye in the West before Indigo
was introduced from India. Since then woad has
been little used except as a fermenting agent for the
indigo vat. It dyes woollen cloth a greenish colour
which changes to a deep blue in the air. It is said to
be inferior incolour to indigo but the colour is much
more permanent. The leaves when cut are reduc-
ed to a paste, kept in heaps for about fifteen
76
days to ferment, and then formed into balls which
are dried in the sun; these have a rat her agreeable
smell and are of a violet colour. These balls are sub-
jected to a further fermentation of 9 weeks before
being used by the dyer. When woad is now used it
is always in combination with Indigo, to im-
prove the colour. Even by itself, however, it
yields a good and very permanent blue.
It is not now known how the ancients prepared
the blue dye, but it has been stated (Dr. Plowright)
that woad leaves when covered with boiling water,
weighted down for half-an-hour, the water then
poured off, treated with caustic potash and subse-
quently with hydrochloric acid, yield a good Indigo
blue. If the time of infusion be increased, greens
and browns are obtained. It is supposed that woad
was " vitrum," the dye with which Caesar said al-
most all the Britons stained their bodies. It is said
to grow near Tewkesbury, also Banbury. It was
cultivated till quite lately in Lincolnshire. There
were four farms in 1896 ; one at Parson Drove, near
Wisbech, two farms at Holbeach, and one near Bos-
77
ton. Indigo has quite superseded it in commerce."*
" It is like the Indigo plant, but less delicate and
rich. It is put in vats with Indigo and madder to
dye a never-fading dark blue on wool, and was called
woad-vats before Indigo was known." (Thomas
Love) . And again " Woad, or what is much strong-
er, pastel, always dyed the blue woollens of Europe
until Indigo was brought over here."
Bancroft says " Woad alone dyes a blue colour
very durable, but less vivid and beautiful than that
of Indigo."
LOGWOOD
(Bois de Campeche, Campeachy Wood)
Logwood is a dye wood from Central America,
used for producing blues and purples on wool, black
on cotton and wool, and black and violet on silk. 1 1
is called by the old dyers, one of the Lesser Dyes,
because the colour loses all its brightness when ex-
posed to the air. But with proper mordants and
with careful dyeing this dye can produce fast and
* Woad, pastel and Indigo are used in some dye books to mean:
the same dye,and they evidently have very much the same prepara-
tion in making.
78 '
good colours. Queen Elizabeth's government
issued an enactment entirely forbidding the use of
logwood. The act is entitled " An Act for the
abolishing of certeine deceitful stuffe used in the
dyeing of clothes," and it goes on to state that
" Whereas there hath been brought from beyond
the seas a certeine kind of stuff called logwood,
alias blockwood, wherewith divers dyers," etc.,
and " Whereas the clothes therewith dyed, are not
onlysolde and uttered to the great deceit of the
Queene's loving subjects, but beyond the seas, to
the great discredit and sclaunder of the dyers of this
realme. For reformation whereof, be it enacted
by the Queene our Soveraygne Ladie,
that all such logwood, in whose handes soever
founde, shall be openly burned by authoritie of the
maior." The person so offending was liable to im-
prisonment and the pillory. This is quoted from
" The Art of Dyeing," by James Napier, written in
1853. He goes on to say, " Upwards of eighty
years elapsed before the real virtues of this dyeing
agent were acknowledged ; and there is no dye-
wood we know so universally used, and so univer-
sally useful." The principal use for logwood is in
79
making blacks and greys. The logwood chips
should be put in a bag and boiled for 20 minutes
to | hour, just before using. " Logwood is used
with galls and copperas for the various shades of
greys, inclining to slate, lavender, dove, and lead
colour, etc. For this purpose you fill a cauldron
full of clean water, putting into it as much nut galls
as you think proper. You then add a bag of log-
wood, and when the whole is boiled, having cooled
the liquor, you immerse the stuff, throwing in by
degrees some copperas, partly dissolved in water."
— Hellot. Hellot is very scornful of logwood,
naming it as one of the lesser dyes, and not to be used
by good dyers.
RECIPES FO^ DTEING with LOGWOOD.
i). BLACK FOR COTTON. —
After washing, work the cotton in a cold infusion
of 30 % to 40 % of Sumach, or its equivalent in
other tannin matter* (ground gall nuts,myrobalans,
etc.) and let steep over-night. Squeeze out and
without washing pass through a bath containing a
diluted solution of lime water, or soda. Work in a
cold solution of copperas for I hour, then back into
* See page 36
8o
the soda for a | hour at a temperature of 50° to 60° C.
Then wash. Dye in a freshly made bath of logwood
with a small proportion of old Fustic or Quercitron
Bark. The cotton is introduced into the cold dye
liquor and the temperature gradually raised to boil-
ing. Boil for I an hour. After dyeing, the cotton
should be passed through a warm solution of Bi-
chromate of Potash. (5 grains per litre). It is
then washed and worked in a warm solution of soap
and dried. More Fustic makes a greener black.
When catechu is the tanning matter employed,
the cotton should be worked in a boiling decoction
of it and allowed to steep till cold.
2). GREY DRAB FOR WOOL.
( i o Ibs.) Dissolve | oz. Bichromate of Potash in
water,iand then boil for | hour ; lift the wool and
add i oz. logwood : boil for | hour. Lift out, wash
and dry.
3). LOGWOOD GREY ON COTTON.
The cotton is worked in a weak decoction of log-
wood at 40° to 50° C., and then in a separate bath
containing a weak solution of ferrous sulphate or
Bichromate of Potash. Wash.
8i
4.) GREEN BLACK FOR WOOL. —
Mordant wool with 3 % Bichromate of Potash
and i % Sulphuric acid (or 4 % Tartar) for i to i|
hours. Then wash and dye with 3 5 % to 50 % of
Logwood. This gives a blue black. It is greened
by adding 5 % old Fustic to the dye bath. The
more Fustic the greener the) black becomes. If
3 % to 4^ alum is added to the mordanting bath, a
still greener shade is obtained. Sulphuric acid in
the mordant produces a dead looking blue black.
Tartar yields a bright bluish black.
5). LOGWOOD BLUE FOR WOOL.
Mordant the wool for i to i \ hours at 1 00° C.,
with 4 % alum and 4 to 5 % cream of Tartar. Wash
well and dye for i to i| hours at boiling point with
1 5 to 3 o % logwood and 2 to 3 % chalk. This col-
our is not very fast, but can be made faster by adding
i to 3 % bichromate of potash and i % sulphuric
acid. The brightest logwood blues are obtained
by dy eing j us t below boiling point. Long boiling
dulls the colour.
6). GREEN BLACK FOR WOOL.
Mordant with z% Chrome and 2$% sulphuric
82
acid. Boil 1 1 hours and leave over night. Dye
with 40 % logwood and 10 % Fustic. Boil i hour.
7). LOGWOOD BLUE FOR WOOL.
Chrome i % , Alum 3 % , Tartar i \ % . Boil
1 1 hours and leave over-night. Dye with log-
wood 20 % and Cudbear i % . Boil one hour,
then throw in 20 quarts of single muriate of tin, di-
luted with 20 to 30 gallons of water. Immerse 1 5
minutes and wash.
8). FAST PURPLE FOR COTTON.
(For 20 Ibs. cotton.) Mordant with copperas.
Wash slightly ; then a bath of muriate of tin. Dye
with 4 to 5 Ibs. logwood.
f f ^ ^ t rJir'«r
9). FAST BLACK ON WOOL. —
Put wool into a strong logwood bath,the stronger
the better, and boil for i hour. Take out and drain,
and put into a Bichromate of Potash bath and keep
at 1 50° F. for about 5 minutes. Then a bath of Fus-
tic or Quercitron. After which wash well in cold
water.
i o) . BLACK FOR COTTON. —
(For i o Ibs.) Steep cotton in hot decoction of ?
'j n i : ' * ^ v *- * *J i WJiiBi? luw «
O
83
Ibs. Sumach and let stay over night. Wring out and
work for 10 minutes through lime water : then
work for | hour in a solution of 2 Ibs. copperas. It
may be either washed from this, or worked again
through lime water for i o minutes. Dye for \ hour
in a warm decoction of 3 Ibs. logwood adding \ pint
chamber lye. Take out cotton and add to the same
bath 2 oz. copperas. Work i o minutes, then wash
and dry. i Ib. Fustic is added forjet black.
11). FAST BLACK FOR WOOLLENS. —
(For 50 Ibs.) Mordant with 2 Ibs. chrome, i Ib.
Tartar, i quart Muriate of Tin. Boil i hour and
wash well. Dye with 25 Ibs. logwood and 3 Ibs.
Fustic. Boil 30 minutes. Take out and add i
pint Vitriol. Return for i o minutes, wash and dry.
12). JET BLACK FOR SILK.
( For 50 Ibs.) Mordant in hot solution of Nitro-
Sulphate of Iron at 1 50° F., work for \ hour. Wash
well, then boil up 1 8 Ibs. Fustic. Put off the boil*
enter silk and work for 30 minutes. Take out.
Boil 1 6 Ibs. logwood, put off the boil and decant the
liquor into fresh bath,add i Ib. white soap, enter and
work from 30 to 40 minutes. Wash well.
84
1 3) . LAVENDER FOR WOOL.
( For 6^ Ibs.) Mordant with 3 oz. Bichromate
of Potash, for 45 minutes and wash. Dye with 2
oz. madder, i oz. logwood. Enter the wool, raise
to the boil and boil for 45 minutes. The proportion
of logwood to madder can be so adjusted as to give
various shades of claret to purple.
14). BLACK FOR WOOL.
Mordant 6 £ Ibs. wool with 4 oz. Chrome. Boil
for 45 minutes. Dye with 50 oz. logwood, i oz.
Fustic. Raise to boil and boil for 45 minutes.
1 5). FAST CHROME BLACK FOR WOOL.
( For 40 Ibs. wool.) Dissolve 3 Ibs. copperas and
boil for a short time. Then dip the wool in this for
^ hour, airing frequently. Take out wool and make
dye with 24 Ibs. logwood. Boil for | hour. Dip
f hour, air wool, dip £ hour longer and then wash in
strong soap suds.
fto sifciT1 33li/ mm. or TO! ;{T~ W Lrin .f I \z i^Jfl^
1 6). LIGHT SILVER DRAB FOR WOOL.
( For 50 Ibs. wool ) . \ Ib. logwood, \ Ib. alum.
Boil well and enter wool and dip for i hour.
85
17). A FAST LOGWOOD BLUE FOR WOOL.
( Highland recipe) . Mordant with 3 % Bichro-
mate of Potash and'boil wool in it for 1 1 hours.
Wash and dry wool. Make a bath of 1 5 to 20 %
logwood with about 3 °/0 chalk added to it. Boil the
wool for i hour, wash and dry. The wool can be
greened by steeping it all night in a hot solution of
heather, or boiling it in heather till the desired tint
is obtained.
1 8). GREEN BLACK FOR WOOL.
( For 50 Ibs. wool ) . Boil 20 minutes with i Ib.
chrome. Dye with 20 Ibs. Fustic, 81bs. logwood.
Boil for I hour.
19). SLATE PURPLE.
( For 80 Ibs. yarn) . Mordant with 2 Ibs. chrome
for 20 minutes. Dye with i o Ibs. logwood & i Ib.
Cudbear. Boil for | hour.
20). RAVEN GREY FOR WOOL.
( For 60 Ibs.) Dissolve 8 oz. Alum and work the
wool very quickly for | hour at boiling heat ; then
take it out and add to the same liquor 3 or 4 Ibs. cop-
peras, & work it at boiling heat for | hour. Then
86
wash. In another copper, boil i pailfull of logwood
chips for 20 minutes. Put the wool into this for \
hour ; then return it into the alum and copperas for
i o to 15 minutes.
21). DARK RED PURPLE WITH LOGWOOD
FOR WOOL. — (For 2 Jibs.) Mordant with 1002.
alum and 2 J oz. cream of tartar for i hour. Let
cool in the mordant, then wring out and put away
for 4 or 5 days in a linen (or other) bag in the dark.
Dye with i Ib. logwood, and \ Ib. madder. Boil
up the logwood and madder in a separate bath and
pour through a sieve into the dye bath. Enter the
wool when warm and bring to boil. Boil from J
hour to 1 1 hours. Wash thoroughly.
22). VIOLET WITH LOGWOOD FOR SILK.
The silk is washed from the soap and drained.
For every pound of silk, dissolve in cold water i oz.
verdigris; when it is well mixed with the water, the
silk is immersed and kept in this liquor for an hour.
This does not give colour. It is then wrung & aired.
A logwood liquor is then made ; the silk dipped in
it when cold ; it takes a blue colour sufficiently dark.
The silk is taken out and dipped in a clear solution of
87
alum ; it acquires a red which produces a violet on
the silk just dyed blue. The quantity of alum is un-
determined ; the more alum the redder the violet.
The silk is then washed.
23). ORDINARY LOGWOOD PURPLE FOR WOOL.
( For lib.) Mordant wool with \ Ib. alum and |
oz. tartar for i hour ; wring out and put away in a bag
for some days. Dye with \ Ib. logwood for i hour.
CHAPTER VII.
RED.
KERMES, COCHINEAL, LAC-DYE, MADDER.
KERMES.
Kermes, or Kerms, from which is got the
" Scarlet of Grain " of the old dyers, is one of the old
insect dyes. It is considered by most dyers to be
the first of the red dyes, being more permanent than
cochineal and brighter than madder. In the i oth
century it was in general use in Europe. The reds
of the Gothic tapestries were dyed with it, and are
very permanent, much more so than the reds of later
tapestries, which were dyed with cochineal. Ban-
croft says " The Kermes red or scarlet, though less
vivid, is more durable than that of cochineal. The
fine blood-red seen at this time on old tapestries in
different parts of Europe, unfaded, though many of
them are two or three hundred years old, were all
dyed from Kermes, with the aluminous basis, on
woollen yarn."
Kermes consists of the dried bodies of a small
scale insect, Coccus iltcis, found principally on
the ilex oak, in the South of Europe. It is said
to be still in use in Italy, Turkey, Morocco and
other places.
William Morris speaks of the "Al-kermes or
coccus which produces with an ordinary aluminous
mordant a central red, true vermilion, and with a
good dose of acid a full scarlet, which is the scarlet
of the Middle Ages, and was used till about the
year 1656, when a Dutch chemist discovered the
secret of getting a scarlet from cochineal by the
use of tin, and so produced a cheaper, brighter
and uglier scarlet."
Kermes is employed exactly like cochineal. It
has a pleasant aromatic smell which it gives to the
wool dyed with it.
The following recipe for its use is from an- old
French dye book: —
20 Ibs. of wool and | a bushel of bran are put into
a copper with a sufficient quantity of water, and
suffered to boil half-an-hour, stirring every now
and then. It is then taken out to drain. While
the wool is draining the copper is emptied and fresh
water put in, to which is added about a fifth of sour
water, four pounds of Roman Allum grossly pow-
dered and two pounds of red Tartar. The whole is
brought to boil, and that instant the hanks are dip-
ped in, which are to remain in for two hours, stir-
ring them continually. When the wool has boiled
two hours in this liquor, it is taken'out, left to drain,
gently squeezed and put into a linen bag in a cool
place for five or six days and sometimes longer. This
is called leaving the wool in preparation. After
the wool has been covered for five or six days, it is
fitted to receive the dye. A fresh liquor is then pre-
pared, and when it begins to be lukewarm, take 1 2
oz. of powdered Kermes for each pound of wool to
9o
_l»j „ t/v .f ( •* I °^X
be dyed, if a full and well coloured scarlet is wanted.
If the Kermes was old and flat, a pound of it would
be required for each pound of wool. When the
liquor begins to boil, the yarn, still moist, (which it
will be, if it has been well wrapped in a bag and kept
in a cool place) is put in. Previous to its being dip-
ped in the copper with the Kermes, a handful of
wool is cast in, which is let to boil for a minute. This
takes up a kind of scum which the Kermes cast up,
by which the wool that is afterwards dipped, ac-
quires a finer colour. The handful of wool being
taken out, the prepared is put in. The hanks are
passed on sticks continually stirring and airing
them one after the other. It must boil after this
manner an hour at least, then taken out and placed
on poles to drain, afterwards wrung and washed.
The dye still remaining in the liquor may serve to
dip a little fresh parcel of prepared wool ; it will
take some colour in proportion to the goodness and
quality of the Kermes put into the copper.
Another Recipe for Dyeing with I^ermes. — The
wool is first boiled in water along with bran for half-
91
an-hour (| bushel of bran for 20 Ibs. of wool) stir-
ring it from time to time. Drain. Next boil for
2 hours in a fresh bath with a fifth of its weigh t of
alum and a tenth of Tartar. Sour water is usually
added. It is then wrung, put into a bag and left in
a cool place for some days. The Kermes is then
thrown into warm water in the proportion of 12 oz.
to every pound of wool. When the liquor boils, a
handful of waste wool is thrown in, to take up the
dross of the Kermes, and removed. The wool is
then put in and boiled for an hour. It is after-
wards washed in warm water in which a small quan-
tity of soap has been dissolved. Then washed and
dried.
"To prepare wool for the Kermes dye, it is to be boiled in
water with about -^ of its weight in alum, and half as much of
Tartar, for the space of two hours and afterwards left in the
same liquor four or five days, when being rinsed, it is to be
dyed in the usual way with about 1 2 oz. of Kermes for every
pound of wool. Scarlets, etc., given from Kermes, were called
grain colours, because that insect was mistaken for a grain.
Wool prepared with a nitro-muriatic solution of tin (as is now
practised for the cochineal scarlet) and dyed with Kermes takes
a kind of aurora, or reddish orange colour." — Bancroft.
92
COCHINEAL
The dried red bodies of an insect (Coccus Cacti)
found in Mexico are named Cochineal.
RECIPES FOR DYEING.
i). SCARLET FOR WOOL.
For each pound of wool put 20 quarts of water.
When the water is warm, add 2 oz. Cream of Tartar,
1 1 drachms of powdered Cochineal. When the
liquor is nearly boiling, put in 2 oz. of Solution of
Tin (which the Dyers call Composition for Scarlet) .
As soon as it begins to boil, the wool,which has been
wetted, is dipped and worked in the liquor for an
hour and a half. A fresh liquor is then prepared,
1 1 oz. of starch is put in and when the water is warm
6| drachms of Cochineal. When nearly boiling
2 oz. of solution of tin is put in. It must boil, and
then the wool is put in and stirred continually for
1 1 hours. It is then taken out, wrung and washed.
The Scarlet is then in its Perfection.
2). COCHINEAL FOR COTTON.
Prepare 50 Ibs. of cotton with 1 5 Ibs. Sumach, i o
Ibs. Alum. Dye with 2^ Ibs. of Cochineal. Leave
93
for 24 hours in the Sumach; lift; winch 2 to 3 hours
in a hot solution of Alum; wash in two waters, then
boil up the cochineal ; put offthe boil,enter cotton &
winch till colour be full enough ; then wash and dry.
3). ORANGE RED FOR WOOL.
i ) . Mordant wool with Alum.
2). Dye in a bath of weak Fustic.
Wash and Dry.
3) . Put into cold water, Cream of Tar-
tar, Tin, Pepper and Cochineal.
When warm, enter the wool
and boil.
4). PINK WITH COCHINEAL FOR WOOL.
(For6olbs. wool). 5lbs. 12 oz. alum. Boil and
immerse wool for5o minutes. Then add i Ib. Coch-
ineal and 5 Ibs. cream of tartar. Boil and enter wool
while boiling, till the required colour is got.
5). SCARLET FOR WOOL.
( For 100 Ibs.) 6 Ibs. of Tartar are' thrown into
the water when warm. The bath is stirred briskly
and when hot | Ib. powdered cochineal is added and
well mixed. Then 5 Ibs. of clear solution of Tin is
carefully mixed in. When it is boiling the wool is
94
put in and moved briskly. After 2 hours it is taken
out, aired and washed.
The second bath. When the water is nearly
boiling 5! Ibs. of powdered cochineal is put in. A
crust will form on the surface which will open in
several places. Then 13 toi^lbs. of solution of tin
is poured in. After th is is well mixed, the wool is
entered and stirred well. Boil for an hour, then
wash and dry.
These two processes can be done together with
good result. The colour can be yellowed by fustic
or turmeric. More tartar in the second bath in-
creases the colour. The scarlet may be brightened
by common salt. Alum will change the scarlet to
crimson, the wool being boiled in a solution of it for
one hour.
6). CRIMSON FOR WOOL.
Mordant with a| oz. alum and i| oz. tartar for
every Ib. of wool. Then dye with i oz. cochineal.
Solution of tin is sometimes added. Also salt.
7). VIOLET FOR WOOL.
Mordant with 2 oz. alum for lib. wool. Dye
with i oz. cochineal and i oz.of solution of iron in
which the wool is kept till the shade is reached.
95
8). SCARLET WITH COCHINEAL, FOR WOOL.
( For i oo oz. clean wool) . Put 6 oz. Oxalic acid,
6 oz. S tannous C hloride ( Tin Crystals ) , 8 oz. pow-
dered cochineal in a bath containing about half the
quantity of water required to cover wool. Boil 10
minutes, then add sufficient water to cover wool.
Enter the wool, work well in the dye and boil for |
hour, after which take out the wool, wash and dry.
9). PURPLE, FOR WOOL.
( For 2 1 Ibs. wool) . Mordant with Bichromate
of Potash, 1 1 oz. in 10 gallons of water. Dye with
6 to 8 oz. cochineal. With alum mordant (4 oz.)
a crimson colour is got. With tin mordant (2 oz.)
a scarlet. With iron mordant (2 oz.) a purplish
slate or lilac.
10). SCARLET, FOR WOOL.
Mordant the wool for i to i| hours with 6 % stan-
nous chloride and ^% cream of tartar. Wash. Dye
with 5 to 12 % of ground cochineal for i to i \ hours.
To dye the wool evenly,enter it in both the mordant
and the dye when the water is warm,and raise gradu-
ally to boiling.
96
1 1). SCARLET, FOR WOOL.
Fill the dye bath half full of water,add 6 to 8% of
Oxalic acid, 6 % of stannous chloride and 5 to 12 per
cent, ground cochineal, boil up for 5 to i o minutes,
then fill up the dye bath with cold water. Introduce
the wool, heat up the bath to the boiling point in the
course of | to i hour and boil | hour. Washing
between mordanting and dyeing is not absolutely
essential. The addition of tartar up to 8 per cent,
increases the intensity and yellowness of the colour.
In order to obtain bright yellow shades of scarlet
it is usual to add a small proportion of some yellow
dye to the bath.
Wool mordanted with 10 per cent, of Copper
sulphate and dyed in a separate bath with cochineal
gives a reddish purple, or claret colour.
With ferrous sulphate as mordant very good pur-
plish slate or lilac colours can be got. Mordant and
dye in separate baths. Use 8 per cent, of ferrous
sulphate and 20 per cent, of tartar.
12). CRIMSON FOR SILK.
Mordant the silk by working for | hour in a con-
centrated solution of alum, then leave to steep over
97
night. Wash well and dye in a fresh bath contain-
ing 40 per cent, of cochineal. Enter the silk at a low
temperature and heat gradually to boiling.
13). SCARLET FOR SILK.
After boiling and washing, the silk is first slightly
dyed with yellow by working it for £ hour at 50° C.,
in a weak soap bath containing about I o per cent, of
Annatto; it is then well washed. Mordant the silk
by working it for | hour, then steeping it over night
in a cold solution of 40 per cent, of nitro-muriate of
tin. Wash and dye in a fresh bath with a decoction
of 20 to 40 per cent, of cochineal and 5 to i o per cent
cream of tartar. Enter the silk at a low temperature
and heat gradually to boiling. Brighten in a fresh
bath of cold water, slightly acidified with tartaric
acid. Good results can also be obtained with the
single bath method with cochineal, stannous chlo-
ride and oxalic acid.
With the use of iron mordants very fine shades of
lilac may be obtained on silk with cochineal.
LAC DTE
Like Cochineal and Kermes, Lac is a small scale
insect, Coccus lacca. It is found in India, Burmah
and other Eastern countries ; it was introduced into
England in 1796.
The method of dyeing with lac is very much the
same as with cochineal; it yields its colour less read-
ily however, and should be ground in to a paste with
the tin solution employed and a little hydrochloric
acid and allowed to stand for a day before using. It
is said to be a faster dye than cochineal, but is often
used in combination with it, being a fuller colour
though not so bright.
A good fast scarlet is produced by the following
recipe : — For i oo Ibs. wool. 8 Ibs. lac, previously
ground up with part of the tin spirits, 5 Ibs. cochin-
eal, 5 Ibs. tartar, 20 Ibs. tin spirit.
MADDER
MADDER consists of the ground up dried roots of
a plant, (Rubiatinctorum) cultivated in France,
U Holland, and other parts of Europe, as well as in In-
v dia. JMadder is not much used for silk dyeing, but
for wool, linen and cotton it is one of the best dyes.
It is also used largely in combination with other
dyes to produce compound colours. When used for
cotton the colour is much improved by boiling in a
weak solution of soap after the dyeing. The grad-
99
ual raising of the temperature of the dye bath is
essential in order to develop the full colouring pow-
er of madder ; long boiling should be avoided, as it
dulls the colour. If the water is deficient in lime,
brighter shades are got by adding a little ground
chalk to the dye bath, i to 2 per cent.
Berthollet distinguishes two kinds of madder red
on cotton, one of which is given in No. 4. The
other is the well-known Turkey red or Adrianople
red, a very difficult and complicated dye, but one of
the most permanent dyes known. Madder reds
are said to be not so beautiful as those from Kermes,
lac or cochineal, but my experience has been that
with care, the finest reds can be got with madder.
Birch leaves are used in Russia to improve the
colour of madder. They are added to the dye bath.
RECIPES FOR USE OF MADDER.
i). RED FOR WOOL.
Forioooz. (6^1bs.) wool.
Mordant 8 oz. Alum and 2 oz. Tartar. Boil the
wool in the mordantfor one hour and wash in cold
water. Dye: 50 oz. Madder. Enter the mordanted
wool, raise to boil and boil gently for one hour.
IOO
Wash thoroughly in cold water and dry. If the
water is very soft, a small quantity of lime or chalk
added to the dye bath improves the shade. Alder
bark or alder leaves added to the dye bath darkens
the colour. The best results are obtained when the
dye bath is maintained j ust under the boiling point.
2). REDDISH BROWN FOR WOOL.
Mordant with 3 % bichromate of potash and dye
with Madder. Good results can be got by the single
bath method, (see page 1 4, No. 3) .
3). BROWNISH RED FOR WOOL.
Mordant the wool with 6 to 8 per cent, of alum
and 5 to 7 per cent, of tartar. Dye with 60 to 80 %
of Madder. Begin the dyeing at about 40° C., and
raise th e temperature of the bath gradually to 8 o° to
1 00° C. , in the course of an hour, and continue the
dyeing about an hour. Wash and dry. The colour
can be brightened by adding a small proportion of
stannous chloride to the mordant or it can be added
to the dye bath towards the end of the dyeing.
Brighter shades are got by keeping the temper-
ature at about 80° C., and prolonging the dyeing
process. After dyeing, the colour can be brightened
101.
by working the wool at 70° C. , in a weak soap bath,
or a bath containing bran.
4). BRIGHT RED FOR COTTON.*
( For 2 2 Ibs) . The cotton must be scoured, then
galled in the proportion of i part of nut i^alls to 4 of
cotton, and lastly alumed in the proportion of i of
alum to 4 of cotton. To the solution of alum is added
one twentieth of solution of soda ley (| Ib. ordinary
soda to j | pints water). It is then dried slowly and
alumed again. Then dried slowly again. The more
slowly the drying takes place the better the colour.
The cotton is then ready to be dyed.
Heat the water of the dye bath as hot as the hand
can bear; mix in 6| Ibs. madder and stir carefully.
When thoroughly mixed, put in the cotton & work
for | hour without boiling. Take it out & add about
a pint of soda ley. The cotton is then returned to
the bath and boiled for 15 to 20 minutes. It is then
brightened bypassing it quickly thro* a tepid bath
with a pint of ley in it. It is then washed and dried.
* This recipe can also be used for linen, but linen takes the colour
less easily than cotton, and should have the various operations re-
peated as much as possible.
T02.
5). BRIGHT ORANGE RED FOR WOOL.
For i Ib. scoured fleece, mordant with 4 oz. alum
and i oz. cream of tartar. Dissolve the mordant,
enter the wool and raise to boiling point and boil for
I hour. Allow the wool to cool in the mordant.
Then wring out and put in a linen bag in a cool place
for 4 or 5 days. Soak 8 oz. madder over n ight in
water and boil up before using. Put into dye bath,
enter wool when warm, bring gradually to the boil
and boil for | hour.
6). BRIGHT RED FOR WOOL.
Mordant i Ib. wool with 5 oz. of Alum, and i oz.
of Tartar; leave to drain and then wring out ; put
into a linen bag and leave in a cool place for several
days. (The wool should still be damp when taken
out to dye ; if it is dry, damp with warm water) .
If the Tartar is increased a cinnamon colour is got.
Dye with | Ib. of madder for every pound of wool.
The water should not boil, but kept j ust below boil-
ing for an hour ; then boil up for 5 minutes before
taking out and washing.
With sulphate of copper as a mordant, madder
gives a clear brown bordering on yellow (one part of
sulphate of copper and 2 parts of madder) .
io3
7). RED FOR SILK.
The silk is mordanted over night with alum, by
steeping itin a cold concentrated solution ; wash
well and dye in a separate bath with 50 per cent, of
madder. Begin dyeing at a low temperature
and gradually raise to ioo°C. The addition of
bran tends to give brighter colours. A small quan-
tity of Sumach could be added if a fuller colour is
wanted. After dyeing, wash and then brighten in
aboiling solution of soap, to which a small percent-
age of stannous chloride has been added. After-
wards wash well.
By mordanting with Copperas, either alone or
after an Alum bath, violet and brown shades can be
got.
8). RED WITH MADDER FOR WOOL.
Pound up carefully without heating some roots
of madder. Mordant the wool with Alum, adding
some cayenne pepper. Dye with the madder, add-
ing cream of tartar to the dye bath. Birch leaves
improve the colour.
9). MADDER RED FOR COTTON.
Take a piece of white cotton, about 20 yards.
Melt in some water i Ib. of potash ; boil the cotton
IO4
in this for 20 minutes, then rinse it. Put 4 Ibs. of
the best Sumach in the copper and fill it up with
boiling water, and boil for 10 minutes. Put to cool
and work the cotton well in this for an hour. Take
it out and give it a scalding hot alum and sugar of
lead bath for half-an-hour ; rinse in two waters ;
put it back in the sumach for half-an-hour ; then
alum again for 20 minutes. Rinse. Put 2 Ibs. of
madder into hot water and boil gently for a few
minutes. Put in the cotton, work well and boil for
half-an hour gently. After, give it a hot alum for
20 minutes, and rinse. Put i Ib. fresh madder in
the copper, put in the cotton and boil for 20 min-
utes. Then wash.
10). RED FOR COTTON.
Scour the cotton. Then gall in the proportion
of i of gall nuts to 4 of cotton. Then alum in the
proportion of i of alurn to 4 of cotton, with a little
soda and tartar added. Dissolve the alum, etc.,
and put in the cotton, and boil half-an-hour. Cool
down and ring out. Then dry slowly. Repeat
the aluming. Put madder into water and when
hot dip in cotton for - hour, keeping it under boil-
ing point, then boil up for £ hour and wash. Dry.
it). MADDER RED FOR COTTON & LINEN.
( For i Ib.) i st Mordant. — Boil i oz. ground
gall nuts in 5 quarts of water for | hour. Putin
thread and soak for 24 hours. Dry.
2nd Mordant. — Melt 2 oz. of alum, ^ oz. of Tur-
meric, and | oz. of gum Arabic in two quarts of
water, over a slow fire. Let cool. Melt i oz. soda,
I oz. arsenic, ^ oz. potash (crushed) in a bath, and
when dissolved, add the alum, turmeric and gum
Arabic mixture. Stew | hour. Put in thread,
which should be covered with the liquid, and let it
soak for 24 hours. Dry.
i st. Bath. — Put 2 oz. Madder into i o quarts of
water, heat up to boiling but do not let it boil. Put
in thread and stir well for i hour.
2nd. Bath. — Put 3 oz. Madder in i o quarts of
water ; treat as in first bath , from which the thread
should be taken and put straight into the 2nd. bath.
Stir for i hour. Soak for 24 hours ; wash and dry.
3rd. Bath. — Put 3 oz. Madder in 10 quarts water;
repeat the process described for 2nd. bath.
The thread should be washed in cold water & lastly
in warm water in which a little soft soap has been
io6
dissolved. When drying do not wring the skeins
as this is likely to make the colour uneven.
There are a few other red dyes of minor import-
ance which should be mentioned.
'BRAZIL WOOT>S, various leguminous trees,
including lima, sapan and peach wood, dye red with
alum and tartar, and a purplish slate colour with bi-
chromate of potash. They are not fast colours.
Some old dyers used Brazil wood to heighten the
red of madder.
CAMWOOD, BARWOOT), SANDAL-
WOOD or SANDERSWOOD, are chiefly used
in wool dyeing, with other dye woods such as Old
Fustic, and Logwood for browns. They dye good
but fugitive red with bichromate of potash,or alum.
^EDfrom LADIES BEDSTRAW.
The crushed roots of this plant are used. Mor-
dant the wool with either alum or bichromate of
potash. The red with alum is an orange red, with
chrome, a crimson red. Make the dye bath with
30 to 50 % of bedstraw roots and boil the mordanted
wool in it for an hour.
io7
COTTON
For i o'lbs. cotton boil 3 Ibs. Sumach, let the cot-
ton steep in this over night : wring out and work in
red spirits ( i gill to a gallon of water) . Wring out
and wash well. Boil up 3 Ibs. limawood (or Brazil
or Peach wood) and i Ib. fustic. Work the cotton in
this I hour, as warm as the hand can bear ; add i gill
red spirits and work 1 5 minutes longer. Wash.
CHAPTER VIII.
YELLOW.
WELD. OLD FUSTIC. TURMERIC.
QUERCITRON. DYER'S BROOM. HEATHER,
AND OTHER YELLOW DYES.
"There are ten species of drugs for dyeing yellow,
but we find from experience that of these ten there
are only five fit to be used for the good dye — viz.
Weld, savory, green wood, yellow wood and fen u-
io8
grec". "Weld or wold yields the truest yellow,
and is generally preferred to all the others. Savory
and green wood, being naturally greenish, are the
best for the preparation of wool to be dyed green :
the two others yield different shades y ellow". —
Hellot.
>
WELD
Weld, Reseda fated/a, an annual plant growing
in waste sandy places. The whole plant is used for
dyeing except the root. It is the best and fastest of
the yellow natural dyes.
Hellot's directions for dyeing with weld are the following :
•— " Allow 5 or 6 Ibs. of weld to every pound of stuff : some
enclose the weld in a clean woollen bag, to prevent it from
mixing in the stuff; and to keep the bag down in the copper,
they put on it a cross of heavy wood. Others hold it in the
liquor till it has communicated all its colour, and till it falls to
the bottom : the stuff is then suspended in a net, which falls
into the liquor, but others, when it has boiled, take out the
weld with a rake and throw it away."
The plant is gathered in June and July, it is then
carefully dried in the shade and tied up into bundles.
When needed for dyeing it is broken up into pieces
or chopped finely, the roots being discarded and a
decoction is made by boiling it up in water for about
109
I hour. It gives a bright yellow with alum and tar-
tar as mordant. With chrome it yields an old gold
shade ; with tin it produces more orange coloured
yellows ; with copper and iron, olive shades. The
quantity of weld used must be determined by the
depth of colour required. The dye bath is prepared
just before dyeing, the chopped weld being put into
weighted bags and boiled in soft water for | to i
hour. 2 % of Stannous chloride added to the mor-
dant gives brilliancy and fastness to the colour.
Bright and fast orange yellows are got by mordant-
ing with 8 % Stannous chloride instead of alum.
With 6 % copper sulphate and 8 % chalk, weld
gives a good orange yellow. Wool mordanted
with 4 % of ferrous sulphate and i o % tartar and
dyed in a separate bath with weld with 8 % chalk,
takes a good olive yellow. 8 % of alum is often
used for mordant for weld. The dye bath should
not be above 90° C. It is good to add a little chalk
to the dye bath as it makes the colour more intense,
while common salt makes the colour richer and
deeper.
" Woollen dyers frequently add a little stale urine or lime
and potash to the water in which it is boiled. They commonly
I 10
employ 3 or 4 oz. of alum and one of tartar for each pound of
the wool. Tartar is supposed to render the yellow colour a
little more clear and lively." — Bancroft.
Weld is of greater antiquity than most, if not all
other natural yellow dyes. It is cultivated for dyeing
in France, Germany and Italy. It is important for
the silk dyer, as it dyes silk with a fast colour. The
silk is mordanted in the usual way with alum, wash-
ed and dyed in a separate bath of 20 to 40 % weld,
with a small quantity of soap added. After dyeing,
the colour is brightened by working the silk for i o
minutes in a fresh soap bath with a little weld added
to it. Wring out without washing.
• x; •
RECIPES FOR DYEING WITH WELD.
i). YELLOW FOR SILK.
Scour the silk in the proportion of 20 Ibs. soap to
loolbs.ofsilk. Afterwards alum and wash. A bath
is made of 2 parts weld for i of silk, and after ~ hour's
boiling, it is filtered through a cloth into another
bath. When this bath is cooled a little, the silk is
immersed and turned about till dyed. The weld is
in the meantime boiled up again with a little pearl
1 1 1
ash, and after being strained, it is added to the first
bath ( part of the first bath having been thrown
away) until the desired colour is got. The bath
must not be too hot. If more golden yellows are
wanted, add some annotto to the second bath.
2). YELLOW FOR COTTON.
Scour the cotton in a lixivium of wood ashes,
wash and dry. It is alumed with ^ of its weight of
alum. After24 hours it is taken out of the bath and
dried without washing. A weld bath is prepared
with imparts weld to i of cotton, and the cotton dip-
ped in till the shade is got. It is then worked in a
bath of sulphate of copper (£ copper to i of cotton)
for 1 1 hours. It is next thrown, without washing,
into a boiling solution of white soap. (£ soap to i
cotton) . It is boiled for i hour, then washed and
dried.
3.) DEEP YELLOW FOR COTTON OR LINEN.
2|partsofweld for i of cotton, with a little cop-
per sulphate added to the bath. The cotton is well
worked in this till the cotton has the desired colour.
It is then taken out and a little soda ley is poured in.
It is returned and worked in this for ^ hour, then
washed and dried.
4). OLD GOLD FOR WOOL.
Mordant with 2 % chrome and dye with 60 %
of weld in a separate bath. 3 % of chalk adds to the
intensity of colour.
5). YELLOW FOR WOOL.
Boil wool with 4 % of alum for i to 2 hours, and
dye in a separate bath of 50 to 100 % weldfor2o
minutes to an hour at 90° C.
6). YELLOW FOR WOOL.
Mordant with alum and tartar, and dye with 5 or
6 Ibs. of weld for every Ib. of wool. Common salt
deepens the colour. If alum is added to the dye bath,
the colour becomes paler and more lively. Sulphate
of iron inclines it to brown.
7). WELD YELLOW FOR SILK.
Work the silk ( I Ib.) for an hour in a solution of
alum, i Ib. to the gallon, wring out and wash in
warm water. Boil 2 Ibs. weld for | hour ; strain
and work the silk in this for | hour. Add i pint
alum solution to the weld bath and return the silk ;
work ten minutes, wring out and dry.
OLD FUSTIC.
Fustic is the wood of Morus tinctoria^ a tree of
Central America. It is used principally for wool.
It does not produce a fast dye for cotton. With
Bichromate of Potash as mordant, Old Fustic gives
old gold colour. With alum it gives yellow, in-
clining to lemon yellow. The brightest yellows
are got from it by mordanting with Tin. With
copper sulphate it yields olive colours. (4 to 5 ^
copper sulphate and 3 to 4 % tartar) . With ferrous
sulphate, darker olives are obtained (8 % ferrous
sulphate) . For silk it does not produce as bright
yellows as weld, but can be used for various shades of
green and olive. Prolonged dyeing should always
be avoided, as the yellows are apt to become brown-
ish and dull. The chips should be tied up in a bag
and boiled for \ hour before using. It is still better
to soak the wood over-night, or boil up in a small
vessel and strain into the dye bath. The proportion
of Fustic to be used for a good yellow is 5 to 6 parts
to 16 parts of wool.
RECIPES FOR DYEING WITH OLD FUSTIC.
i). OLD GOLD FOR WOOL. Boil the wool with
3 to 4 % Chrome for i to i| hours. Wash, and
J
dye in a separate bath for i to 1 1 hours at 1 00° C.
with 20 to 80 % of Old Fustic.
2). LIGHT YELLOW FOR SILK. Work the silk
for \ to I hour at 50° to 60° C. in a bath containing
1 6 % alum and a decoction of 8 to 1 6 % of old Fus-
tic. For dark yellow the silk is mordanted with
alum, washed and dyed for about an hour at 50° C.,
with 50 to 100 % of Fustic. The colour can be
made faster and brighter by working the silk in a
cold solution of nitro-muriate of Tin for an hour.
3). BRIGHT YELLOW FOR WOOL. Mordant
wool with 8 % of stannous chloride for i to 1 1 hours,
and 8 % of tartar. Wash, and dye with 20 to 40 %
of Fustic at 80° to 1 00° C. for 30 to 40 minutes.
4). OLD GOLD FOR WOOL. Mordant 6 Jibs.
( i oo oz.) wool with 3 oz. chrome, for | hour and
wash. Dye with 24 oz. Fustic & 4 oz. madder for
45 minutes.
5). YELLOW FOR WOOL. Mordant 6 Jibs, wool
with3oz. chrome, for | hour and wash. Dye with
6 oz. Fustic, 2 drachms logwood. Boil | hour.
6). BRIGHT YELLOW FOR WOOL. (Single bath
method). Fill the dye bath \ full of water, add 2 %
oxalic acid, 8 % stannous chloride, 4 % tartar and 40
per cent, of Fustic. Boil up for 5 or 10 minutes, then
fill the bath with cold water. Put in the wool & heat
up the bath to boiling in the course of | to i hour, &
boil for hour.
7). YELLOW FOR WOOL. (Single bath).
stannous chloride, 4 % oxalic acid and 50% Fustic.
8). YELLOW FOR SILK. (5 Ibs.) Work the
silk through an alum solution of i Ib, to a gallon of
water. Wash in warm water. Boil 2 Ibs. Fustic
for | hour in water and in this work the silk for |
hour. Lift and add i pint of the alum solution.
Work i o minutes longer, then wash and dry.
9). FUSTIC YELLOW FOR SILK, (jibs.) Alum
the silk. Boil up 3 Ibs. Fustic and work silk in it
while hot for | hour. Lift, add 2 oz. red spirits.
Work for 15 minutes. Wash out in cold water.
Work i o minutes in a soap solution. Wring out
and dry.
10). BUFF COLOUR ON WOOL. (45 Ibs.) Boil
4! Ibs. Fustic and 1 1 Ibs. madder. Add 7 Ibs. alum
and boil up together. Allow to cool a little, enter
wool and boil for i hour.
n6
11). YELLOW FOR WOOL. Mordant with
alum and tartar. Solution of tin increases the col-
our ; salt makes it deeper. 5 or 6 oz. Fustic for
every pound of wool.
TURMERIC
Turmeric is a powder obtained from the ground
up tubers of 'Curcuma tinctoria^ a plant found in India
and other Eastern countries. It gives a brilliant
orange yellow, but it has little permanence. It is
one of the substantive colours and does not need
any mordant. Cotton has a strong attraction for
it, and is simply dyed by working in a solution of
Turmeric at 6o°C. for about | hour. With silk
and wool it gives a brighter colour if mordanted
with alum or tin. Boiling should be avoided. It
is used sometimes for deepening the colour of Fus-
tic or Weld, but its use is not recommended as al-
though it gives very beautiful colours, it is a fugitive
dye. As Berthollet says "The shade arising from
the Turmeric is not long of disappearing in the air."
QUERCITRON.
Quercitron is the inner bark of the Quercus nigra
or Q. tinctoria a species of oak growing in the United
States and Central America. It was first introduced
into England by Bancroft in 1 775 as a cheap substi-
tute for weld. He says, " The wool should be boiled
for the space of i or i± hours with one sixth or one
eighth of its weight of alum ; then without being
rinsed, it should be put into a dyeing vessel with
clean water and also as many pounds of powdered
bark (tied up in a bag) as there were used of alum to
prepare the wool, which is to be then turned in the
boiling liquor until the colour appears to have taken
sufficiently : and then about i Ib. clean powdered
chalk for every i oo Ibs. of wool may be mixed with
the dyeing liquor and the operation continued 8 or
i o minutes longer, when the yellow will have be-
come both lighter and brighter by this addition of
chalk."
QUERCITRON FOR SILK. Bancroft.
i to 2 Ibs. of bark to every 12 Ibs. silk according to
shade required. The bark, tied up in a bag, should
be put into the dyeing vessel whilst the water is cold,
as soon as it gets warm the silk, previously alumed,
should also be put in and dyed as usual. A little chalk
should be added towards the end of the operation.
n8
A little murio sulphate of tin is used where more
lively shades of yellow are wanted.
Boil at the rate of 4 Ibs. bark to every 3 Ibs. of alum
& 2 Ibs. murio sulphate of tin with a suitable quan-
tity of water, for 10 to 15 minutes. Reduce the heat
so that the hand can bear it, put in the silk and dye
till it has acquired the shade. By adding suitable
proportions of sulphate of indigo to this yellow liq-
uor and keeping it well stirred, various and beautiful
shades of Saxon green may be dyed.
By dissolving different proportions of copperas or
copperas and alum in the warm decoction of bark,
silk may in the same way be dyed of all the different
shades of olive and drab colours.
FOR COTTON AND LINEN. Soak the yarn in a
liquor made by dissolving \ of its weight of alum in
the necessary water, to which it will be highly ad-
vantageous to add at the rate of i Ib. potash or 10 oz.
chalk for every 6 or 7 Ibs. alum. The yarn is taken
out and dried well : being afterwards rinsed, it is to
be dyed in cold liquor made by boiling i \ Ibs. of the
plant for each Ib. of yarn,which, after having receiv-
ed a sufficient body of colour,is to be taken out of the
dyeing liquor and soaked for an hour and more in a
solution of sulphate of copper (blue vitriol) contain-
ing at the rate of 3 or 4 oz. for every pound of yarn :
it is then removed without being washed, put into a
boiling solution of hard soap, containing 3 or 4 oz.
soap for each pound of yarn. Stir well and boil for
about | hour or more. Then wash and dry.
And again, take a sufficient quantity of acetate of
alumina. This is made by dissolving 3 Ibs. alum in
a gallon of hot water, then adding i Ib. sugar of lead,
stirring well for 2 or 3 days, afterwards adding about
2 oz. potash and 2 oz. powdered chalk, (carbonate of
lime) , mix with warm water and soak linen or cot-
ton well in this for 2 hours, keeping warm; squeeze
out, dry; soak again in mordant, squeeze; dry; soak
in lime water, dry; this mordanting and liming can
be repeated if a fast yellow is required : it should
then be well washed. 1 2 to 1 8 Ibs. of Quercitron
bark, for every i oo Ibs. cotton or linen, is tied up in a
bag and put in cold water, and slightly heated. The
cotton is put in, stirring for an hour to an hour and a
half while the water gets warm : then the liquor is
heated to boiling point and the cotton boiled a few
minutes only. Slow raising to boiling point gives
the best colour. Instead of using acetate of alumina,
120
the cotton can be impregnatedwith some astringent
such as galls or my robalans ( i Ib. in 2 or 3 gallons of
water with a little soda) . Macerate the cotton an
hour or two in this and dry, then a solution of alum
( 8 Ibs. alum, i Ib. chalk, in 6 gallons of water) soak
cotton 2 hours, and dry, then soak in lime water and
dry. Second time in alum and dry. Then wash
and dye slowly in the Quercitron. This is a lasting
yellow for cotton or linen.
OTHER YELLOW DTES.
"Root of the dock, bark of the Ash tree, leaves of the al-
mond, peach and pear trees, all give good yellow dyes, more
or less fine according to the time they are boiled and in propor-
tion to the Tartar and alum used. A proper quantity of alum
brings these yellows to the beautiful yellows of the weld. If
the Tartar is in greater quantity, these yellows will border on
the orange, if too much boiled they take brown shades." From
a dyeing book, 1778.
f| BARBERRY. The roots and bark of Berberis
Vulgaris, used principally for silk dyeing, without a
mordant. The silk is worked at 50° to 60° C. in a
solution of the dye wood slightly acidified with suL»
phuric, acetic or tartaric acid. For dark shades,
mordant with stannous chloride.
121
DTERS BR 0 OM. genista tinctoria.
The plant grows on waste ground. It should be
picked in June or July & dried. It can be used with
an alum and tartar mordant and gives a good bright
yellow. It is called greening weed and used to be
much used for greening blue wool.
PRIVET LEAVES, Ligustrum^ulgare, dye
a good fast yellow with alum and tartar.
HEATHER. Most of the heathers make a
yellow dye, but the one chiefly used is the Ling,
Calluna vu/gan's. The tips are gathered just before
flowering. They are boiled in water for about half
an hour. The wool, previously mordanted with
alum, is put into the dye bath with the liquor,which
has been strained. It is then covered up closely and
left till the morning. Or the wool can be boiled in
the heather liquor till the desired colour is obtained.
RECIPES : — i ) . YELLOW FOR WOOL. For 6^ Ibs.
mordant with 5 oz. alum for i hour and wash. Boil
up 8 oz. heather twigs leaves and flowers. Enter the
wool and boil for i hour. Wash in cold water & dry.
2). GOLDEN YELLOW FOR WOOL. For 6£ Ibs.
mordant with 3 oz. bichromate of potash for J^hour
122
Wash in cold water. Dye with 50 oz. heather and
boil for 45 minutes.
CHAPTER IX
BROWN AND BLACK.
CATECHU. ALDER BARK. SUMACH.
WALNUT. PEAT SOOT. LOGWOOD,
AND OTHER DYES
CATECHU.
Catechu, (Cutch) is an old Indian dye for cotton.
It can be used for wool, and gives a fine rich brown.
It is obtained from the wood of various species of
Areca, Acacia, and Mimosa trees. Bombay Cate-
chu is considered the best for dyeing purposes.
Catechu is soluble in boiling water. It is largely
used by the cotton dyer for brown, olive, drab, grey,
and black. True ordinary method of dyeing cutch
brown on cotton is to steep the cotton in a hot solu-
I23
tion of catechu, containing a small addition of cop-
per sulphate, and leave it in the solution for several
hours. To 7 or 8 gallons of water put i Ib. catechu
and boil till all is dissolved, then add I toaozs.of
sulphate of copper and stir. It is then put into a
boiling chrome bath (3 % ) for | hour. For deep
shades the dyeing and chroming operations are re-
peated, With alum mordanted cotton, the colour
is a yellowish brown, with tin it becomes still yel-
lower. With iron it is brownish or greenish grey.
When catechu only is used, a darker shade of brown
is got by adding to the catechu 6 % of its weight of
copper sulphate. When mordants are used, they
may be applied before or after the chrome bath, the
cotton being worked in their cold solution.
i). CATECHU BROWN FOR COTTON, (lolbs.)
Work the cotton at a boiling heat for 2 hours, or
steep for several hours in a cool liquid, in 2 Ibs. cate-
chu. (To each 7 or 8 gallons of water put i Ib. of
catechu, and boil till all is dissolved, then add 2 oz.
sulphate of copper and stir) . Wring out and then
work for | hour in a hot solution of chrome, 6 oz.
Wash in hot water. If soap is added the colour is
124
improved. Any depth of colour can be got by re-
peating the operations.
2). BROWN FOR COTTON. Soak cotton in
warm water. Boil for | hour in a solution of cate-
chu, in the proportion of i oz. of catechu to 5 oz. of
cotton. Put it into a 3 % solution of chrome for |
hour and boil. Then repeat these two operations
till the colour is obtained. Then boil in a bath of
Fustic.
3). BROWN FOR COTTON. (loolbs.) Boil
20 Ibs. catechu in water : dissolve in the liquid i o
Ibs. alum and let it settle : enter the yarn into the
hot liquid and after working well take out and enter
into a fresh bath of boiling water with 4 Ibs. of
chrome. Rinse and soften with oil and soap.
4). CREAM COLOUR FOR COTTON WITH CAT-
ECHU, (i i Ibs). Boil out | oz. of catechu in
water, and dissolve 2 Ibs. 3 oz. curd soap in the clear
liquid. Enter the cotton at 1 90° F. and work for
an hour.
5.) CATECHU FAST BROWN. (50 Ibs.) Steep
yarn over-night in a decoction of 10 Ibs. cutch.
I25
Lift &work in a hot solution of chrome,rinse & dry.
6). LIGHT FAST CATECHU BROWN FOR COT-
TON. (5olbs.) Boil 20 Ibs. catechu in one boiler
and 5 Ibs. chrome in another. Enter in the catechu
bath first, work 20 minutes, and wring out : then
through the chrome i o minutes, and wring out.
Through catechu again, then chrome. Repeat
this till dark enough, finishing with catechu.
7.) LIGHT CATECHU BROWN FOR COTTON.
(20 Ibs). 3 Ibs. of catechu and 3 oz. copper sulph-
ate, boil up, and put into a bath of warm water.
Enter cotton and work for | hour ; wring out. In
another bath of hot water dissolve 8 oz. of chrome.
Enter cotton when boiling, and work for | hour.
Then wash.
8). CATECHU BLACK FOR COTTON. Work
the cotton in a hot decoction of catechu, allowing it
to steep in the bath till cold, then work it in a cold
solution of iron. Wash, and dye in a cold or tepid
bath of logwood, and finally pass through a solution
ofchrome.
9). CATECHU BROWN FOR WOOL. The wool
is boiled for i to i| hours, with 10 to 20 % catechu,
126
then sadden with 2 to 4 % of copper sulphate, fer-
rous sulphate, or chrome, at 80° to 100° C., in a sepa
rate bath for | hour.
10). CATECHU STONE DRAB, (zolbs. cotton)
Work the cotton for \ hour with 2 pints catechu
( i Ib. catechu to 7 or 8 gallons water ; boil and add 2
oz. copper sulphate) in hot water, lift and add 2 oz.
copperas in solution. Work for £ hour and wash.
Add 2 oz. logwood to a bath of warm water & work
cotton in this for 10 minutes. Lift and add |oz. alum
Work 10 minutes ; wring out and dry.
The bark and twigs of alder are used for dyeing
brown and black. For i Ib. wool use i Ib. alder bark.
Boil the wool with it for 2 hours, when it should be
a dull reddish brown. Add | oz. copperas for every
pound of wool for black.
SUMACH
Sumach is the ground up leaves and twigs of the
Rhus coriaria growing in Southern Europe. It dyes
wool a yellow and a yellow brown, but it is chiefly
used in cotton dyeing.
127
WALNUT
The green shells of the walnut fruit and the root
are used for dyeing brown. The husks are collected
when the fruit is ripe, put into a cask and covered
with water. In this way they can be kept for a year
or more ; it is said the longer they are kept the better
colour they give. Without a mordant the colour is
quite fast, but if the wool is mordanted with alum a
brighter and richer colour is got. When used they
are boiled in water for £ hour, then the wool is enter-
ed and boiled till the colour is obtained. Long boil-
ing is not good as it makes the wool harsh. It is
much used as a "saddening' * agent ; that is for dark-
ening other colours. William Morris says : —
"The best and most enduring blacks were done with this simple
dye stuff, the goods being first dyed in the indigo or woad vat till
they were a very dark blue, and then browned into black by means
of the walnut root."
" Of all the ingredients used for tbe brown dye, the walnut
rind is the best. Its shades are finer, its colour is lasting, it
softens the wool, renders it of a better quality, and easier to
work. To make use of this rind, a copper is half filled, and
when it begins'to grow luke-warm. the rind is added in propor-
tion to the quantities of stuffs to be dyed and the colour intended.
The copper is then made to boil, and when it has boiled a
128
quarter-of-an-hour, the stuffs which were before dipped in
warm water, are put in. They are to be stirred and turned
until they acquire the desired colour." — James Haigh, 1797.
*PEA T SOOT gives a good shade of brown to
wool. Boil the wool for i to 2 hours with peat soot.
Careful washing is required in several changes of
water. It is used sometimes for producing a hazel
colour, after the wool has been dyed with weld and
madder.
OAK BARK. Mordant with alum and dye in
a decoction of oak bark.
ONIONSKINS. (Brown.) Mordant the wool
with alum and a little cayenne pepper. Boil it up
lightly and keep warm for 6 days. Drying 2 or 3
times in between makes the colour more durable.
Dry. Boil a quantity of onion skins, and cool ; then
put in wool and boil lightly for half-an-hour to an
hour; then keep warm for a while. Wring out
and wash.
MADDER for BROWN. (For 2\ Ibs. wool).
Mordant with 2 oz. copperas and 2 oz. cream of tar-
tar. Dye with madder.
I2g
MADDER, ETC., for FRENCH BROWN.
(For 50 Ibs. wool.) Mordant with 1 1 Ibs. chrome.
Dye with 6 Ibs. Fustic, i Ib. madder, | Ib. cudbear,
i Ib. Tartar. If not dark enough add 8 oz. logwood.
Boil for | hour. Wash and dry.
FOR BLACK THREAD. (From an old Dutch
book on Dyeing. 1583)." Take a quantity of broken
or bruised galls and boil them in water in a small pot
and when they have a little boiled, take out all the
galls and put into the same pot so much Copperas as
ye had of galles and put therewith a little gumme of
Arabic and then give it again another boiling. So
let it boil a little, and with the said dye ye shall col-
our therein your thread, then take it forth and ye
shall see it a fair shining black."
(for 6£ Ibs. wool). Mordant
with 3 oz. Chrome for 45 minutes and wash in cold
water. Boil for | hour, in a bag, 5 oz. madder, 4 oz.
Fustic, | oz. logwood. Enter the wool, raise to the
boil, and boil for 45 minutes. By altering the pro-
portions of madder & fustic various shades of brown
can be got.
K
A gOOT) SL^C^for cotton, (20 Ibs.) to stand
milling and scouring. Steep all night with 6 Ibs. of
Sumach, pass through lime liquor and sadden with
copperas ; repeat in each of the last 2 tubs, adding
more lime and copperas to each. Pass through log-
wood and wash. Soften with a little oil and soda ash.
A gOOT> BLACK for cotton, (20 Ibs.) Ina
tub of cold water add 5 Ibs. sumach , give a few turns
and let it steep in it all night ; then in another tub of
cold water add a few pails of lime water, wring out ;
in another tub add 2 Ibs. dissolved copperas and a
pailful of old Sumach liquor. Enter, give 6 turns,
wring out. In lime tub put two pails more lime
liquor. Scald 2 Ibs. logwood, i Ib. Fustic in water;
enter cotton, give i o turns, sadden with a little cop-
peras in the same liquor. Soften with a little oil and
soda ash.
BLACK FOR LINEN AND COTTON.
The yarn is first of all scoured in the ordinary way,
galled, alumed, and then turned through a bath of
weld. It is then dyed in a decoction of logwood to
which one fourth part of sulphate of copper must be
added for one part of yarn. It is then washed. It
is dyed in a bath made with one part of madder for
two of yarn. The yarn is then turned through a
bath of boiling soap water, washed and dried.
DOESKIN BLACK. (For i oo Ibs. wool.)
CamwoodS %. Boil for 50 minutes. Then add
Chrome 3 % , Alum i % , Argol i % . Boil for 50
minutes, take out of dye and allow to stand over-
night. Dye in 45 % logwood, 8 % Fustic, 4 %
Sumac. Boil for 1 1 hours, wash and dry. A fast
permanent colour.
G3(EEN BLACK FOR WOOL. Mordant
with 2 % Chrome and 25 % Sulphuric acid. Boil
1 1 hours ; and leave over-night. Dye with 40 %
logwood, and 10 % Fustic. Boil i hour. Wash.
BROWNISH BLACK FOR WOOL. (For
i Ib.) Mordant with 3 per cent. Chrome. Dye
with 2 oz. Fustic, 2 oz. logwood, i oz. madder, and
i oz. copperas.
BROWN FOR WOOL. Mordant a| hours
with alum ; dye with pine needles (larch) collected
in Autumn when they drop.
132
"BLACK is obtained from the whole plant of
Spirea Ulmaria^ but especially the roct. It is ga-
thered then dried in the sun, and a strong decoction
made by boiling for some hours, (a large handful to
3 pin ts of water) . After it has boiled slowly for 2
to 3 hours, stale urine is added to supply the loss by
evaporation. Then set aside to cool. The cloth
to be dyed, is rubbed strongly with bog iron ore,
previously roughened and moistened with water.
It is then rolled up and boiled in the decoction . This
is of a brilliant black. A fin e black is said to have
been formerly obtained from the roots of Angelica
Sylvestris" — (Edmonstone on the Native Dyes of
the Shetland Islands, 1841.) William Morris says ;
" Black is best made by dyeing dark blue wool with brown ;
and walnut is better than iron for the brown part, because the
iron-brown is apt to rot the fibre ; as you will see in some
pieces of old tapestry, or old Persian carpets, where the black
is quite perished, or at least in the case of the carpet — gone
down to the knots. All intermediate shades of flesh colour
can be got by means of weak baths of madder and walnut
"saddening ;" madder or cochineal mixed with weld gives us
orange, and with saddening (walnut) all imaginable shades
between yellow and red, including the ambers, maize-
colour, etc."
Note: — For other recipes for Black, see Chapter V on Logwood.
'33 ...
From a Dye Book of 1705. — "Black may be compared to
Night and Death, not only because all other colours are deep-
ened and buried in the Black Dye, but that as Death puts an
end to all Evils of Life, tis necessary that the Black Dye
should remedy the faults of other colours, which have been
occasioned by the deficiency of the Dyer or the Dye, or the
change of Fashion according to the times and caprice of man."
CHAPTER X
GREEN
Green results from the mixing of blue and yellow
in varying proportions according to the shade of
colour required. Eerthollet says : —
"Many different plants are capable of affording green colours;
such as, the field broom grass, Bromus secalinus; the green berries
of the berry bearing alder, Rhamnus frangula\ wild chervil, Charo-
phyHumsi/vestre- purple clover, Trifoliumpratense; common reed
Arundo phragmites; but these colours have no permanence."*
* Note page 42 on British plants which dye green.
'•34
Hellot says: — " It is impossible to obtain more than one colour
from a mixture of blue and yellow, which is green ; but this colour
comprehends an infinite variety of shades, the principal of which
are the Yellow green, the Light green, the Gay green, the Grass
green, the Laurel green, the Molequin green, the Deep green, the
Sea green, the Celadon green, the Parrot green, and, I shall add,
the Duck-wing green, and the Celadon green with Blue. All
these shades and the intermediate ones are made after the same
manner and with the same ease. The stuffor wool dyed blue, 1 ight
or dark, is boiled with Alum and Tartar, as is usually done to make
white stuffyellow, and then with Weld, Savory, or Greening
Wood. The Weld and the Savory are the two plants that afford
the finest greens."
Another old Dye book says: —
" If you would dye your goods green, you must first dye them
yellow with Broom or Dyer's Weed, otherwise Yellow Weed;
after which put them into the Blue vat."
Every dyer has his particular yellow weed with
which he greens his blue dyed stuff. But the best
greens are undoubtedly got from weld and fustic.
The wool is dyed first in the blue vat ; then washed
and dried ; then after mordanting dyed in the yellow
bath. This method is not arbitrary as some dyers
consider a better green is got by dyeing it yellow be-
fore the blue. But the first method produces the
fastest and brightest greens as the aluming after the
>35
blue vat clears the wool of the loose particles of indi-
go and seems to fix the colour.
If a bright yellow green is wanted, then mordant
with alum after the indigo bath ; if olive green, then
mordant with chrome.
The wool can be dyed blue for green in 3 different
ways : — i st . in the indigo vat (see page 6 8 et seq.) ;
2nd. with Indigo Extract (see pages 65 — 67) ; 3rd.
with logwood, the wool having been previously
mordanted with chrome (see p. 8 2, No. 7, and p. 8 5
No. 1 7) . For a good bright green, dye the wool a
rather light blue, then wash and dry ; green it with
a good yellow dye,such as weld or fustic,varying the
proportion of each according to the shade of green
required. Heather tips, dyer's broom, dock roots,
poplar leaves, saw wort are also good yellows for
dyeing green. If Indigo Extract is used for the blue?
fustic is the best yellow for greening, its colour is less
affected by the sulphuric acid than other yellows.
Bancroft gives many recipes for dyeing green
with quercitron. He says : —
"Wool which has been first properly dyed blue in the com-
mon indigo vat may be made to receive any of the various
shades of green which are usually given in this way from weld,
by boiling the blue wool (after it has been well rinsed) in water,
i36
with about one eighth of its weight in alum, and afterwards
dyeing it unrinsed with about the same quantity of Quercitron
bark and a little chalk which should be added towards the end
of the process.
In the same way cloth that has previously received the pro-
per shade of Saxon blue, may be dyed to a beautiful Saxon
green: it will be proper to add about 3 Ibs. chalk with 10 to 12
pounds of alum for the preparation liquor for I oo Ibs. weight
of wool which is to be turned and boiled as usual for about an
hour, and then without changing the liquor, I o or 12 Ibs. of
Quercitron bark, powdered and tied up in a bag, may be put
into it, and the dyeing continued. When the dyeing has con-
tinued about 1 5 minutes, it will be proper to add another Ib.
of powdered chalk, stirring it well in, and to repeat this add-
ition once, twice or three times at intervals of 6 or 8 minutes.
The chalk does not merely answer the purpose of decomposing
the acid left in the wool by the sulphate of indigo, but it helps
to raise the colour and to render it more durable."
According to Bancroft, Quercitron is the yellow
above all others for dyeing greens. He says : —
"The most beautiful Saxon greens may be produced
very cheaply and expeditiously by combining the lively yellow
which results from Quercitron bark, murio sulphate of tin and
alum, with the blue afforded by indigo when dissolved in sulphuric
acid, as for dyeing the Saxon blue".
For a full bodied green he says " 6 or 8 Ibs of powdered bark
should be put into a dyeing vessel for every hundred Ibs. wool with
"37
a similar quantity of water. When it begins to boil, 6 Ibs. murio-
sulphate of tin should be added (with the usual precaution) and a
few minutes afterwards 4 Ibs. alum : these having boiled 5 or 6 min-
utes, cold water should be added, and then as much sulphate of Ind-
igo as needed for the shade of green to be dyed, stirring thoroughly.
The wool is then put into the liquor and stirred briskly for about ^
hour. It is best to keep the water just at the boiling point."
RECIPES FOR DYEING GREEN.
i). BOTTLE GREEN FOR SILK WITH FUSTIC.
(5 Ibs.) Dissolve 2 Ibs. alum and i Ib copperas in
water; work the silk in this for | hour ; wash in
warm water. Work for | an hour in a decoction of
6 Ibs. Fustic. Lift, and add 2 oz. Indigo Extract,
Work 20 minutes. Wash and dry.
2). GREEN FOR WOOL WITH FUSTIC. |lb. of
wool is mordanted with ^ oz. chrome and Joz.
Cream of Tartar for | an hour to i hour. Soak over-
night in water, 3 oz. Fustic and a| oz. logwood, and
boil for 2 hours. Strain, and enter wool. Boilfor
2 hours.
3). GREEN FOR LINEN WITH LARCH BARK.
Mordant 4 Ibs. linen with |lb.alum. Boil for 2^
hours ; wring out but do not dry. Boil up a quantity
of of larch bark and boil linen in thisfor 2\ hours.
138
4). FUSTIC GREEN FOR WOOL, (jolbs.)
Mordant wool with 1 1 Ibs. alum. Soak5olbs.
Fustic over-night, and boil up. Enter the wool
and boil for half-an-hour or more. Add Extract of
Indigo in small quantities at a time, till the desired
colour is got.
5). SAXON GREEN FOR WOOL. Mordant the
wool with alum and tartar for half-an-hour ; it is
then taken out and aired, but not washed. The
bath is refreshed with cold water, and half the
amount of the solution of Indigo which is to be used
is well mixed in. The wool is entered and rapidly
stirred for 5 or 6 minutes, without boiling. It is
taken out and the rest of the Indigo solution is well
mixed in. The wool is put in and boiled for ten
minutes ; then taken out and cooled. The bath is
then three - quarters emptied and filled up with a
decoction of fustic. When the bath is very hot, the
wool is put in until the desired shade ofgreen is got.
6). GREEN WITH QUERCITRON FOR WOOL.
Dye the wool blue in the Indigo vat. Wash well.
For i oo parts of wool, put 3 parts of chalk and i o or
1 2 of alum. Boil the wool in this for i hour. Then
139
to the same bath, add 10 or 12 parts of Quercitron,
and continue the boiling for ^ hour. Then add i part
of chalk, and this addition is repeated at intervals of
6 to 8 minutes till a fine green colour is brought out.
7). GREEN WITH QUERCITRON FOR COTTON.
Fi rst , the cotton is dyed a sky blue colour by means
of indigo dissolved by potash and orpiment ; then it
is passed through a strong decoction of sumach, in
which it is left until well cooled. It is then dried,
passed through the mordant of acetate of alumina,
dried again, washed, worked for 2 hours in tepid
bath of Quercitron, (26^1bs.to i lolbs. cotton).
8). GREEN WITH INDIGO EXTRACT & WELD
FOR WOOL. Mordant i Ib. wool with 4 oz. alum
and | oz. cream of tartar. Dye blue with sufficient
quantity of Indigo Extract. Wash and dry. Pre-
pare a dye bath with weld which has been previous-
ly chopped up and boiled. Enterwooland boilfor
half-an-hour or more.
140
APPENDIX
LICHENS USED FOR DYEING WOOL BROWN.
Continued from page 62
S. scrobiculata. Aik-raw, Oak rag. Found on
trees in Scotland and England.
Gyrophora deusta. Scorched looking gyrophora.
Found on rocks in Scandinavia. Linnasus
states that it furnishes a paint called "Tousch,"
much used in Sweden.
G. cylindrica. Cylindrical gyrophora. On rocks in
Iceland. Greenish brown. Also G. deusta.
Alectoria jubata. Horse hair lichen, Rock hair.
On fir trees in England, pale greenish brown.
Parmeliaparietina. Common yellow wall lichen,
Wag-massa, Wag-laf. England and Sweden
on trees, rocks, walls, palings. Used to dye
Easter eggs. Used in Sweden for wool dying.
Cetraria juniperlna. En-mossa. On trees in Scand-
inavia
Borreraflavicans. Yellow borrera. On trees in
Germany, gamboge yellow.
Lecanora candelaria. Ljusmassa. On trees in
Sweden.
Evernia favicans. Wolf's-bane evernia. On
trees in Scandinavia, gamboge yellow.
Lecidea afro-sirens. Map lichen. On rocks Scan-
dinavia.
Lepraria chlorina. Brimstone coloured lepraria.
Scandinavia, on rocks.
L. lolithus. Viol-massa. Sweden, on stones.
Gives to stones the appearance of blood stains.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Prof. G. Henslow. Uses of British Plants.
Dr. Plowright. British Dye Plants. (Journal of the Royal
Horticultural Society, Vol. 26. 1901.)
Sowerby. Useful Plants of Great Britain.
Sowerby. English Botany.
Professor G. S. Boulger. The Uses of Plants. 1889.
Alfred Edge. Some British Dye Lichens. (Journal of the
Society of Dyers and Colourists. May 1914).
J. J. Hummel. The Dyeing of Textile Fabrics.
I42
Clement Bolton. A Manual of Wool Dyeing. 1913.
W. Crooks. Dyeing and Tissue Printing. 1882.
Rawson, Gardiner and Laycock. A Dictionary of Dyes,
Mordants, 1901.
James Haigh. The Dyer's Assistant. 1778.
James Napier. A Manual of Dyeing Receipts. 1855.
James Napier. A Manual of the Art of Dyeing. 1853.
A Profitable Boke. (On Dyeing). Translated from the
Dutch. 1583.
Darwin and Meldola. Woad. (" Nature ", Nov. 1 2,
1896).
Mrs. Anstruther Mackay. Simple Home Dyeing.
English Encyclooedia. Dyeing. 1802.
Gardiner D. Hiscock. 2Oth Century Book of Recipes,
Formulas and Processes. 1907.
F. J. Bird. The Dyer's Hand Book. 1875.
Hurst. Silk Dyeing and Printing. (Technological Hand
Book. 1892).
Smith. Practical Dyers' Guide. 1 849.
T. Sims. Dyeing and Bleaching. (British Manufacturing
Industries. 1877.)
David Smith. The Dyers' Instructor. 1857.
The Dyer and Colour Maker's Companion. 1859.
Thomas Love. The Practical Dyer and Scourer. 1854.
Knecht, Rawson and Lowenthal. A Manual of Dyeing.
1893.
'43
Berthollet. The Art of Dyeing. 1824.
George Jarmain. On Wool Dyeing. 6 Lectures. 1876,
Hellot, Macquer, M. le Pilleur D'Apligny. The Art of
Dyeing Wool, Silk and Cotton. (Translated from the
French, 1789. New Edition, 1901.)
The Art of Dyeing. (Translated from the German. 1705.
Reprint 1913.)
R. P. Milroy. Handbook on Dyeing for Woollen Home-
spun Workers. (Congested Districts Board for Ireland).
Dr. W. L. Lindsay. On the Dyeing Properties of Lichens.
(Edinburgh New Philosophical Journal, 1855).
T. Edmonston. "On the Native Dyes of the Shetland
Islands." (Transactions of Botanical Society of Edinburgh,
Vol.1. 1841).
Edward Bancroft. The Philosophy of Permanent Colours,
1794.
Francheville. On Ancient and Modern Dyes, 1767.
(Royal Academy of Sciences, Berlin).
Parneirs Applied Chemistry. — Article on Dyeing.
William Morris. "Of Dyeing as an Art." (Essays by
Members of the Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society,
'90S)-
William Morris. "The Lesser Arts of Life." (From
Architecture, Industry and Wealth. 1902).
Brewster's Edinburgh Encyclopoedia. 1830. Dyeing.
Sansome. " Dyeing." 1888.
John M. Thomson. The Practical Dyer's Assistant. 1 849,
144
GLOSSARY AND INDEX.
A. — Adjective dyes. 24.
Dyes which require a
mordant.
Alder bar\, 126.
Alizarin. The chief col-
uring principle of mad-
der. It is also the name
for an extensive series of
chemical colours pro-
duced from authracene,
oneof the coal tar hydro-
carbons, discvrd., 1868.
Alkalineley,2%.
Alum, 26 — 29.
Aluminium sulphate, 2 6 .
Aniline^. Discovered,
1826 (a nie, Span, indigo) .
First prepared from in-
digo by means of caustic
potash. Found in coal
in 1 834. Manufactured
on a large scale after Eer-
kin's discovery of mauve
Anatta, (Anotto, Ar-
notto, Roucon), in.
A dye obtained from the
pulp sorrounding the
seeds of the Bixa or e lia-
na; chiefly used in dye-
ing silk an orange col-
our, but is of a fugitive
nature. S££X\J A^vhc-rf
^ 7 ., "&\A£/\AAjL' y
Archil, 52,53,54.
Argol. The tartar de-
posited from wines
completely fermented,
and adhering tothe sides
of casks as a hard crust.
When purified it be-
comes Cream of Tartar.
Astringents, 19,26.
B. — barberry, 41, 120.
Barwood, 106.
Beck. — A large vessel or
tub used in dyeing.
Bichromate of Potash, 32.
Black, 122 — 123 ; from
logwood, 79 — 85.
Black Dye Plants, 44.
Blue, 63 ; from Indigo,
66-75 ; from lichen, 61
from logwood,'79 — 85
Blucblac^i.
Blue Dye Plants, 3 9.
Blue stone, 33.
Blue vitro/, 3 3 — 3 6.
Boisde Gampeche,^*].
Boisjaune, Fustic, yellow
wood.
Brazilwoods, 1 06.
British DyePlants, 37-44.
Broom, 41, 134.
Brown, 1 2 2 — 133, from
lichens, 45— 49,51,56,
57,60 — 62, 140; from
madder, 102, 106; from
weld, 112 ; from woad,76
Brown Dye Plants, 43.
Buff, n S,
C. — Campeachy Wood, 77
Camwood, 1 06, 131.
Garthamus. Safflower, an
annual plant cultivated
in S. Europe, Egypt and
Asia for the red dye from
its flowers.
Catechu, 33, 35, 36, 122-6
Caustic Soda. Carbonate
of soda,boiledwith lime.
Chestnut, 35.
Chrome, 32, 33.
Cinnamon, 102.
Claret,- 51, 84.
GoalTiar Colours. Colours
obtained by distillation
and chemical treatment
from coal tar, a product
of coal during the mak-
ing of gas. There are ov-
er 2,000 colours in use.
Cochineal, 92 — 7, 132.
Copper, a— 5.
Copper sulphate, 33.
L
146
Copperas, 29,30,129.
Corcur^^i.
Cotton,i%; the dyeing of,
19 ;without mordant, 21 ;
method in India, 19, 20 ;
the mordanting of, 26.
Cream, from catechu, 124
Cream of Tartar, 28 — 32,
34. Seeargol.
Crimson,^\ — 96, 106;.
from lichens, 49, 60.
Crottle, 46, 5 6 — 6o> 62.
Cudbear, 45,52,54,55,
57,58,67,85,129.
P. ^-Detergent, 15. A
cleansing age,nt.
D/J0. Generally applied
to immersing cloth etc.
in the blue vat.
Divi-divi, 35,36. The
dried pods of Gtesalpina
coriana, growing in the
West Indies and S. Am-
erica. They contain 2 o
to 35 % tannin and a
brown colouring matter
£^,40,44,50,69,120,
, 80, 1 1 8, 126.
Dyers Broom, 40, 1 2 1 ,
135-
Dyer s Spirit, 32. Aqua
fortis, 10 parts; Sal Anx-
moniac, 5 parts ; Tin, 2
parts ;dissolved together
T)yers Weed, 40, 1 34.
E. — Enter-., To eater
wool, to put it into th^,
dye or mordant liquor..
Extract of Indigo, 6 5,— 6 9,.
F. — Felting JLO prevent,^
Fenugrec, Fenugreek, 107
Trigonnzllafcenugrcecum .
Ferrous sulphate, z 9 .
Flavin. A colouring mat-
ter extracted from quer-
citron.
Fleece, various kinds of, 13
Flesh colour, 132.
H7
Full, to. To tread or beat
cloth for the purpose of
cleansing and thicken-
ing it.
Fuller s Herb. Saponaria
officinalis. A plant used
in the process of fulling.
Fullers Thistle or Teasle.
Dipsacusfullonum. Used
for fulling cloth.
Fustet. Young fustic. Ven-
etian Sumach. Rhuscot-
inus. It gives a fine oran-
ge colour, which has not
much permanence.
Fustic, 1 1 3 — 1 1 6, 130,
'SMSS-
G.— galls, Gall nuts, ^b,
129. Oak galls produced
by the egg of an insect,—
the female gall wasp. An
excrescence is produced
round the egg, & the in-
sect, when developed,
pierces a hole & escapes.
Those gall nuts which
are not pierced contain
most tannic acid. The
best come from Aleppo
and Turkey.
(gramme or Gram. About
1 5! grains (Troy).
Green, 133-9; with fustic
1 3 7-8; with weld, 139.
Green Dye Plants, 42.
Green Vitriol, 29.
Greenwood, 107,108,134
Greening Weed, 121.
Grey, 67,79; from log-
wood, 80,85.
H. — Hazel colour, 128.
Heather, 40, 85, 1 2 1 , 1 3 5.
I. — Iceland moss, 51,61.
/W/g-s, 63-75, 1 3 5- 1 3 9.
Indigo TLxtract, 64—70;
for green, 1 3 5— 139.
— 30.
148
K. — Kermes, 87—91.
Kilo. Kilogramme. Equals
50.
L. — £^,97,98.
£0^,43,131,137.
Lavender, 84.
Lesser *Dye, 77,79.
Lichen, 45—62, 1 40.
Lilac, 95, 96, 97.
Z///7&Z /FW, 1 06, 1 07.
Linen, 2 i ; to bleach, 22 ;
the mordanting of, 26;
various kinds of, 2 1 .
Litre, 80. Nearly i| pints
Lixiviation. The process
of separating a soluble
substance from an insol-
uble by the percolation
of water.
Lixivium. (Lye). A term
often used in old dye
books. Water impreg-
nated with alkaline salts
extracted by lixiviation
from wood ashes.
31, 137.
Lye or Ley. Any strong
alkaline solution, espec-
ially one used for the
purpose of washing,
such as soda lye, soap lye
M.— ^Madder, 38,98—
105, 132.
Magenta, 44.
Maize, 132.
Mercerised Cotton. Cot-
ton prepared by treating
with a solution of caus-
tic potash or soda or cer-
tain other chemicals.
Discovered by John
Mercer in 1844.
Milling. The operation
of fulling cloth.
149
Mordants, 24; general re-
markson, 34; primitive
mordants, 25.
Muriate of Tin, 3 1 .
Myrobalans, 26, 35, 36.
The fruit of several spe-
cies of trees, growing in
China & the Eastlndies,
containing tannic acid,
(25 — \Q% tannin).
O. — 0^128.
Oil of Vitriol, 64, 65, 67.
Sulphuric acid.
Old Fustic, see Fustic.
Old(}old, 109, 112 — 1 14
Olive, 109, 1 13, 1 18,135.
Onionskins, 128.
Orange, 91,93,102,106,
109, 1 20, 132; from li-
chens, 48, 51,58, 60—2.
0^/7,45,52—55.
Organzine. Twisted raw
silk from best cocoons,
used for warp.
Orseille,^.
Oxalic Acid, 30,31.
P.— Pastel,-]*]. Woad.
Peach, 1 20.
Peachwood, 106—107.
ear,^\, 120.
Pear I ash. Carbonate of
Potash.
Peat Soot, 128.
Persian "Barries. The
dried unripe fruit of va-
rious species of Rham-
nus. Also called French
berries, Grains of Avig-
non.
Thilamort, 48.
Pink, 93; from lichen, 57
Plum colour, from lichen,
48.
Poplar, 42, 135.
Potassium Carbonate.
(Potashes) . Carbonate
of Potash has been
known since ancient
150
times as a constituent of
the ashes of land plants,
from which it is obtain-
ed by extraction with
water. In most cases
Sodium Carbonate,
which it strongly re-
sembles, can be used in
its place.
Potassium die hr ornate, 32.
Privet, 39, 41, 42, 121.
Purple ', from lichens, 53,
57 — -60, 62; with coch-
ineal, 95, 96 ; with log-
wood, 82,85,86,87..
Purple Dye Plants , 43 .
Q. — Quercitron, 116 —
1 20 ; for green, 1 35 —
'37-
R. — #^,87—107; from
lichens, 48-5 1, 53, 56,
58>6o.
Red Dye Plants, 3%.
Red Spirits. Tin spirits.
Applied to tin mordants
generally. A solution
of Stannous chloride.
Red woods. Camwood,
Barwood, Sanderswood
(Santal, Sandal, Red
Sanders) , Brazil wood,
Sapan wood, Peach
wood.
Retting, 2 1 .
Roucou. Anatta, Arnotto.
S. — Sanaalwood or Saun-
derswood, 106.
Sadden, to, saddening, 14,
30,34,127,130, 132.
To darken or dull in col-
our.
Sapan wood, 106.
Savory, 107,108.
Sawwort$ 41,135.
Saxon blue, 67, 70, 1 3 6.
The dye made by Indigo
dissolved in oil of vitriol
15*
Saxongreen, 1 1 8, 136, 138
Scarlet, 88,91,92,93,9^
95' 96, 97> 98-
Scarlet of Grain, 87.
Scotch elL 37*2 inches.
Scour ', #?. To wash.
Scroop. The rustling
property of silk.
) 1 6— i8;toalum,i8;
general method of dye-
ing, 17; to mordant, 26;
the preparation of, 17;
to soften, 1 8 ; various
kinds of, 1 6. raw, 1 6, 17 ;
waste, 1 6.
Silver drab) 84.
iS70*, 39.
*SW<z ^. Carbonate of
soda.
Soda ley, 101 .
Sour Itoa ter , — 2 8 . To ev-
ery gallon of water, add
i gill vitriol ; stir thor-
oughly. Stuffsteeped in
this should be covered
with the liquor, other-
wise it will rot.
(2). Water in which
bran has been made to
grow sour. 24 bushels
of bran are put in a tub,
about 10 hogsheads of
nearly boiling water is
poured into it ; acid fer-
mentation soon begins,
and in 24 hours it is rea-
dy to use.
(3). Throw some hand-
fuls of bran into hot wa-
ter and let it stand for 24
hours, or till the water
becomes sour, when it is
fit for use.
Stannous Chloride, 3 1 .
Staple ', ii,i2. A term
applied to cotton and
wool, indicating length
of fibre.
Stuffing and Saddening^ 14,
30-
152
Substantfae Dye, 24, 52,
65, 1 1 6. A dye not re-
quiring a mordant.
Sulphuric Acid) 64, 66,
67,70, 120, 131.
Sumach, 26, 35, 36, 126.
Leaves and twigs of sev-
eral species of Rhus,
containing Tannic acid.
It is sold in the form of
crushed leaves or as a
powder, (15 — 20%
tannin).
T. — Tannic Acid, 26, 35.
Tannin, 35, 36.
Tin,i\, 32.
Tin crystals, 3 1 .
Tin salts, 3 1 .
Tram. Slightly twisted
raw silk, used for weft.
Turkey Red, 99.
Turmeric, 1 1 6.
Turquoise, 69.
Tyrian purple. A purple
colour obtained from
certain shell fish, such as
Buccinum & Purpura.
It is mentioned by Pliny
as being discovered in
1400 B.C. It was a
lost art in the middle
ages.
V. — Valonia,^^. Acorn
cups of certain species
of oak from S. Europe,
containing 25-35 % °^
tannicacid.
Vegetable al\ali. Potash.
Verdigris, 33. Acetate
of copper.
Violet, 86, 94, 103.
Vitrum, 76.
W. — Walnut,^, 127,
132.
Water for dyeing, 2 3 .
Weld, 1 07 — 112,1 20,
'53
Wet ouf, to. To damp,
before putting the yarn
or cloth into the dye.
Woad, 39, 75—77.
Wool) 1 1 ; to bleach, 16 ;
to cleanse, 15, 16 ; long
staple wool, 12 ; various
kindsof,ii,i2,i3.
Wool Dyeing^ general me-
thods, 13 — 16.
Y. — Yarn^ to soften,- 1 6,
Yellow ) 107 — 122; from
lichens, 51, 57, 140 ;
from sumach, 126.
Te }i 7owfDye Plants^ 39.
Yellow Weed, 1 3 4.
Yellow Wood) 107.
ERRATA
page 59. Rock Urcolaria
shld. beRockUrceolaria
page 6 1 . Flowering lus-
nea shld. be Flowering
Usnea.
page 144. (printed with-
out being corrected).
Add: — Alder bark^ 43,
44, 100, 126.
Almond^ 120.
Amber ^ 132
Argol, 1 3 1.
41, 120.
Barwood^ 67, 1 06.
Correct: —
authracene to anthracene
ante to anil
Roucon to Roucou
sorrounding to surroun-
ding
Printed by 'Douglas Pepler at Ttitchling
A WOOD CUT ILLUSTRATION FROM
THE DEVIL'S DEVICES (see advert.)
BOOKS
Published by DOUGLAS PEPLER
AT THE
HAMPSHIRE HOUSE WORKSHOPS
HAMMERSMITH
COTTAGE ECONOMY BY WILLIAM
COBBETT with an INTRODUCTION
BY G. K. CHESTERSON
Price 2s. 6d. net (Postage 3d.)
A REPRINT of a STANDARD WORK
Which should be of use, in these days, to
Many beside Cottagers.
A CAROL AND OTHER RHYMES
By EDWARD JOHNSTON
Price is. net. (Postage 2d).
BOOK ON VEGETABLE DYES
By ETHEL M.MAIRET
Price 55. net (Postage 4d.)
THE DEVIL'S DEVICES or Control
versus Service by DOUGLAS PEPLER,
with Wood-cut Illustrations by Eric Gill.
Price 2s. 6d. net The first 200 copies wil be
numbered and signed. Price 35. 6d. net.
This book contains an account of a cinema-
tograph entertainment in Satan's Circuit; a
crafty devil ; and an appreciation of No. 27,
an English working-man.
THE REVIEWERS ON THE DEVIL'S
DEVICES.
WHAT WILL THEY SAY NEXT ?
But we believe that the effecl: upon most peo-
ple will be what it certainly is upon one reader,
who is NOT IN THE LEAST SHOCK-
ED, but is considerably
BORED.
— €. O. Review.
A verse may find him who a sermon flies,
and there is likely to be here and there one,
who seeing in a booksellers window the red
cover and the black,, the very black, cart thereon,
will incontinently purhcase. —
The New Witness.
His arguments are closely logical when ha
chooses to make them so, though their sequence
and arrangement are bewilderingly haphazard.
—The Herald.
The whole effedl is of a hotch-potch com-
posed in a lunatic asylum ; and the pictures
seem madder than the letterpress
Much to the irritation of my wife, for supper
was waiting, I read on till I had read the book
right through
The " mad " author of this book is Douglas
Pepler, the " mad " artist is Eric Gill. When I say
" mad " I am, for the moment, taking it for
granted that the world is sane. —
Labour Leader.
(and so on very nicely for several columns.) —
Land and Water.
The drama is skilfully unfolded (though the
author fails over the spelling of Nietzsche, page
29) and interspersed with wood-cuts
and a still more excellent account of the passing
of the poor man's parlour.
The (Cambridge Magzine.
The author has marked with the toe of his
boot the moral weakness on which the Devil
depends for his power over the modern world. —
Red Feather.
Mr. Pepler perpetually DROPS into dialogue
with
FATAL
RESULTS.
New Age.
14 DAY USE
RETURN TO DESK FROM WHICH BORROWED
LOAN DEPT.
This book is due on the last date stamped below, or
on the date to which renewed.
Renewed books are subject to immediate recall.
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(D6471slO)476B
General Library
University of California
Berkeley
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